History
History at Bewdley Primary School - Statement of Intent
At Bewdley Primary School, it is our intent that the history element of our curriculum will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past (and that of the wider world), and inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. The location of our school offers our pupils a wide range of opportunities to learn about local History (including trips to the Severn Valley Railway, Bewdley Museum and many other local historical trips).
As our pupils progress, they will become equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. We want pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
The National Curriculum for History aims to ensure that all pupils:
- know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
- know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
- understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
- gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
The progression of skills and knowledge in History is attached below.
Year 1 – Changes & Significant Explorers
Year 2 – The Great Fire of London & Kings and Queens
Year 2 have been working extremely hard on their Tudor houses. They have completed research into how Tudor houses were built, what they looked like and how the materials they used impacted the spread of the Great Fire of London. They then recreated the fire in Forest School! |
Year 3 – Invaders The Anglo Saxons and The Vikings, The First World War, Stone Age to Iron Age & The Victorians
Year 3 finished their Viking topic in style by putting all their wonderful Viking longhouses together to create one mighty Viking Village! They invited everyone to come and see, then wowed the staff and children with their knowledge about everything Viking from Asgard to runes.
Year 3 experienced life as a Viking! A special visitor known as Olaf the Beardless showed the children ancient artefacts, told them sagas and taught them how to fight. So, if ever you need a shield wall to protect yourself, or a Hausfrau to look after your home, you know who can help.
Year 4 - World War II: A Child’s eye from the home front, Crime and Punishment, Romans in Britain & British Clothing 1066-present
As the finale to their topic based on history through fashion, Year Four put together a fashion show for a captive audience of adults and children from around the school, demonstrating all of the knowledge that they have acquired about how fashion has changed through different periods of history. The children showed great oracy skills, explaining key influences of fashion within different eras such as the corsets and puffed shoulders of the Tudor period and the much more subdued look of the Puritans.
Year 5 – The Ancient Greeks, Titanic, The Maya & The ‘Bewdors’ (Tudors)
Year 5 have had a creative end to their Maya topic as they have created their own traditional wall hangings! After taking inspiration from the art of Dan Fenelon (an artist who based his work on Maya patterns), the children have worked in teams during the artistic design process.
Year 5 were surprised when they found out that their History lesson involved examining ancient Maya excrement! During this archaeological investigation, they discovered what an ancient Maya’s diet entailed and compared this to our own. As you can see from the photos, they were shocked by their findings. From avocados to cocoa beans, the Maya grew it all - as Year 5 can now tell you!
Year 6 – iSPY (Jack Bishop) & Time Traveller (The Egyptians)
Year Six have been out 'on location' as part of their latest history topic which focuses on the life of local lad Jack Bishop. They visited and reported from a range of places in Bewdley that are significant to Jack's life story. The children will now edit their footage to complete their news reports which we look forward to sharing with parents and carers.
Year six have had a great day at Bletchley Park as part of their history and technology topic, iSpy. It was fantastic for the children to see things in real life that they've only see on a screen before, such as the Enigma and Bombe machines!
Ancient Egyptians - learning about the process of mummification - by mummifying a mackerel! They followed the process that would have been carried out on the ancient Egyptian pharaohs after their death, and the mackerel are now busy mummifying in their 'sarcophagus'.