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The Orchard School

History

The history curriculum at The Orchard School makes learning fun and engaging. Through hands-on activities, stories, and interactive lessons and workshops children build core knowledge, skills, and vocabulary. We also plan school trips to enhance the history curriculum such as the Brooklands Museum which supports our Year 2 topic on the history of flight.

Where appropriate, historical learning is connected with other subjects such as art or music. It may also be linked to their writing where the children will use what they have been learning in history to write in different genres such as newspaper articles or chronological reports.

The curriculum includes "memory moments" and a range of other recall and retrieval opportunities to help children remember important facts and events. 

This approach ensures that learning history is both enjoyable and effective for young children.

History Policy

History Leadership Report 2023-24

Knowledge Organisers

Please click on the pictures below for the key knowledge, skills and vocabulary taught in each History unit of work.

History in Reception

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, history forms part of the learning children acquire under the ‘Understanding of the World' branch of the Foundation Stage curriculum. 

Reception child will learn through experiences that introduce the concept of time and change.

Teacher's often ask ‘What happened next?' after reading a story or looking at other sequences of events, such as getting dressed, planting a seed or making a sandwich. A popular focus is to get children to bring in photographs of themselves as babies and to discuss how they have changed over time.

In Reception, children explore patterns and routines and are given opportunities to take part in events to celebrate time. 

 Here’s some examples of the ways history is brought to life in the Early Years:

  • A group of children look at photographs of themselves and each other as babies and compare what they can do now with what they could do then.
  • During the spring and summer, children observe the life cycle of frogs, ducklings and annual plants in the garden and describe and draw the changes over time.
  • Children might bring in items from home to talk about, such as old toys their grandparents played with when they were little.