Our Vision for History at Lockyer's Middle School

At Lockyer’s Middle School we want History to fire children’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world and help them to understand the diversity of human experience.  History is important as it provides children with the opportunities to empathise with others, debate a point of view and reach their own conclusions - essential skills that are valued in adult life. Therefore, we aim for a high-quality history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge of British, local and world history. Curriculum content is knowledge and vocabulary rich, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract concepts as they move through school. We intend to inspire children to develop a broad historical and cultural awareness by: providing opportunities for children to develop a chronological framework by investigating the past and how it influences the present; encouraging children to interrogate evidence and form their own opinions; enabling children to communicate their view points in a variety of ways using appropriate vocabulary; exploring a range of sources of information; fostering enjoyment, empathy and curiosity for finding out about the past.

At Lockyer’s Middle School, History is taught in blocks throughout the year, so that children achieve depth in their learning. Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group. Retrieval practice is at the heart of this, ensuring the prior learning is built on and meaningful connections are made. 

We believe that local history is equally important. This is why it is woven into our curriculum to ensure it is explicitly taught and a rich understanding of our local heritage is developed. The local area is utilised to achieve these desired outcomes, with opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice.

How History Links to other Subjects at our School

At Lockyer’s Middle School, planning is informed by and aligned with the national curriculum and closely links History, Geography and English to explore key questions. Consideration is given to how greater depth will be taught within each lesson, as well as how children will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.

How you can help with History at home

If you wish to support your child at home to find out more about the topics studied in History, then the following websites can be useful to provide some extra knowledge:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zcw76sg

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zk26n39.

Curious to look a little further ahead?

Both QE and Corfe Hills School study the AQA syllabus and support can be found here as pupils start to investigate GCSE level History:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/zxjk4j6