Gilbert Colvin Primary School

At Gilbert Colvin, we aim to deliver a history curriculum that is rich in historical knowledge and skills that will stay with our pupils for life. As they progress through the school, we want our children to develop a fascination with the past and equip them with the skills and passion to find out more about it independently.

To do this, we have created a curriculum which is engaging and fun, which has strong ties to the children’s own historical heritage and is grounded heavily in the aims found in the National Curriculum. Through exploring different historical periods, the children build their understanding of the key concepts of change, continuity, similarity, difference and significance, learning how our society today has been influenced by the past. Historical terms such as government, monarchy, democracy, invasion, settlement and migration are built upon each year. Where possible, links between significant periods of time are made to our local area, so that children are able to see how local history is closely tied to national and international history.

We enrich our children’s experience of history through engaging, enquiry based lessons that develop the children’s skills in questioning, observation, interpretation, critical analysis and problem solving so that the children are able to see how our understanding of the past has been is based upon evidence analyzed by historians. At Gilbert Colvin, we explicitly teach a broad historical vocabulary so that the children are able to clearly express their understanding of the past. We have an excellent local museum, Redbridge Museum, through which we are able to enrich our children’s experience of history. Our ties to the local library service also mean the children have access to a wide range of texts so that they are able to investigate further. They also develop digital literacy skills by researching more about certain topics.

We help our children to develop skills and knowledge by:

• Providing them with opportunities to analyse, discuss and draw conclusions from a range of sources of evidence, including photographs, historical artefacts, stories, non-fiction books and independent research.
• Taking them on trips to sites of historical importance and inviting visitors to the school who can inform them more of events from the past.
• To have a chronological understanding of the past in their local area and the wider world.
• The ability to use and apply historical vocabulary.

We want our children to complete their time at Gilbert Colvin ready to embark on their next chapter in life with curiosity, passion for learning, an enquiring, open mind, and with a willingness to listen to one another’s ideas so that they can make well informed opinions of their own.