At Monkshouse Primary School, we view History as a great deal more than learning facts. We see it as an opportunity to develop skills of enquiry and questioning; to become open minded “historical detectives” and explore the past in an exciting way.

We aim to inspire our children to develop curiosity about the past and, in order to do so, provide first hand experiences with role play, class visits, workshops and visiting experts playing an important part in all our topics. The past comes to life when children use a variety of sources of information to find clues and evidence and take part in discussions with their peers.

Through our cross-curricular topics children are offered the opportunity to learn about historical events, people and places, both nationally and globally and realise how these have influenced our lives today. Through History, children learn to make comparisons and links between the past and modern times and discover how and why things have changed.

In Key Stage 1 children will develop an awareness of the past. They will learn about significant individuals who have contributed to national and international achievements. They will also study changes within living memory as well as events beyond living memory that are nationally or globally significant such as The Great Fire of London.

In Key Stage 2 the children will continue to appreciate history in a chronological context. They will develop a secure understanding of British, local and world history.  They will also learn to understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of different sources and spend time looking at, and dealing with, different sources.