At Emsworth Primary School it is our intent to deliver a high-quality history education that will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. We equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils 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.

The implementation of our curriculum is through an enquiry based approach and at Emsworth Primary School we employ the Hampshire ‘Six Step’ model in our enquiry led history curriculum. Teachers ensure that children are engaged in history though challenging enquiries that require the children to develop the use of their thinking skills to extend their own knowledge and understanding. Their ability to investigate, consider, reflect and review events of the past will enable them to develop a detailed understanding. The children are encouraged to use their understanding of change and continuity, similarity and difference, cause and effect, chronology and significance to interpret events and developments. They will ask and answer challenging historical questions that make links between events, developments, people and periods in the past.

Six Step Enquiry 

Step 1: Teacher motivates pupils to want to learn and scopes the enquiry:

Hooking them in, whetting the appetite This can be done through:

Setting the puzzle, making it real, exciting, a problem that needs sorting/laying down a challenge…

Scoping the enquiry      Slow reveal      ïUnder the cloth    Predict the story from the cover
 Left luggage mystery

Step 2: Children collect information in interesting and varied ways:

 Picture or text sources       Artefacts       Interviews          Visits
Timeline stories        Information run      Treasure hunt       Gallery

Step 3: Children make sense of ideas and process the information by:

Filling in grids,      Sequencing cards or pictures      Sorting, grouping, rejecting/retaining
Venn diagrams      Big point little point          Spectrums

Step 4: Children draw their own conclusions, making their own meaning:

They advance reasons, perhaps linking and prioritising them     They begin to recognise what is
significant            They shape their ideas and demonstrate understanding, perhaps through:
 Role play      History Mystery        Living graph         Post-it challenge

Step 5: Their understanding is checked, developed or refined by:

Introducing new ideas, materials, perspectives     Curve ball            Hall of Fame
 Across the Ages

Step 6: Pupils create their final, imaginative product:

 Pupils demonstrate their understanding in imaginative ways      ïStamp collection
Pop-up museum          Commemorative plaque

The impact of learning history at Emsworth Primary School is that through history lessons, we challenge, motivate and involve all learners. Teachers encourage children to develop a growth mindset, accepting that they may not have all the answers but determinedly strive to draw their own conclusions.

Curriculum Map