History Intent

At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we want to awaken your curiosity about the past and teach engaging lessons, which are accessible to all. We want to create inquisitive, independent learners who will make interested, knowledgeable historians, encouraging you to become excited about what the past can teach us. We will teach you to make links between the past and the world we know today.  We promote the importance of thinking about our place in the world and this begins in our Early Years classrooms; our children review their own life history, considering how they have changed and the things they can now do. Throughout the year each child will develop their understanding of the world through historical stories and drama, with sensitive adults ready to listen and explain the world around them, inspiring curiosity and a desire to know more about the past.

As you move through the school we will encourage you to think carefully and critically in your lessons. You will develop an ability to question, research and find your answers hidden in the past. You will develop historical enquiry skills, building on the knowledge gained in previous years to turn you into an inquisitive historian. You will then have the building blocks of skills and knowledge in place to be able to assess and understand history. Historical evidence can come from many viewpoints. You will learn to be a time detective, evaluating evidence, developing your own perspectives and judgements of events. At St Mary’s, we use a wide range of resources, drama and historical artefacts in lessons to inspire historical inquiry. We support this with a variety of school trips to local museums and places of historical interest.  Speakers are invited in to share first-hand experiences of historical events.

Through the historical study of Britain and the wider world, we aim to develop your understanding of concepts such as chronology, continuity, change, cause, consequence, similarity and contrast.  We aim to help you to develop understanding of historical enquiry, including the use of evidence to make historical claims, and how and why interpretations of the past may differ. With your help we can make the future a better place by learning lessons from the past. You are the world’s future politicians, scientists, writers, artists, musicians, designers, engineers and of course, historians – hopefully you will use the historical skills you learn at St Mary’s to make the future world a better place.