Subject Intent
North Town Primary School and Nursery is lucky enough to have a rich historical context, not just within the School but within its locality. We reflect this by immersing the children in a carefully designed curriculum to enhance their knowledge of the local environment wherever possible and by applying this to the wider world and its history. We link this all together through inspiring learning opportunities informed by the national curriculum as well as the children’s interests and current pedagogy in order to deepen their understanding, allowing them to know more and remember more. We aim to have a ‘memorable experience’ during each topic to inspire the children and use the local resources (both physical resources and local historical sites) to bring the topic to life whenever possible. Here at North Town, the curriculum is well planned and structured to ensure that current learning is linked to previous learning both within and across year groups.
Through the Projects we choose, the purpose of our study (taken from the national curriculum) is for the children to:
• Gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world, which helps to stimulate pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past;
• Be encouraged to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement;
• Begin 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.
As well as the curriculum within school, we have an after-school club that works closely with the local museum on a project called ‘Take One.’ This is available to all children with a keen in interest in the subject in Key Stage 2. It fosters their interest using real artefacts chosen by the museum to develop children’s skills and understanding within an historical context. The children can follow their own lines of enquiry with guidance from staff at the school as well as from the museum.
