At St Joseph’s, our History curriculum aims to inspire in every child a curiosity about the past and an understanding of how history has shaped the world in which they live today. We want our children to become knowledgeable, thoughtful and inquisitive young historians who understand their own heritage and local community while developing an increasingly broad and deep knowledge of British and world history.

Beginning with children's own experiences and their immediate locality, our curriculum progressively widens their historical understanding. Children will develop a secure sense of chronology, placing people, events and periods within increasingly sophisticated chronological frameworks and making connections across their learning.

Our curriculum develops both substantive historical knowledge and disciplinary thinking. Children will build knowledge of significant people, civilisations, societies and events while learning to think historically through the concepts of cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, significance, evidence and interpretation.

We want children to understand that history is not simply a collection of facts about the past. They will learn to ask perceptive questions, examine evidence, consider different interpretations, identify connections, weigh arguments and reach informed conclusions. They will recognise that our understanding of the past is constructed from evidence and that historians may reach different conclusions from the sources available to them.

Our History curriculum will reflect our distinctive context. Children will explore the history of Carterton and the surrounding area, developing an understanding of the people, events and developments that have shaped their community, before connecting this with the wider history of Britain and the world. Local history will help children understand that the places familiar to them have their own stories and that they themselves are part of an ongoing history.

High-quality literature, artefacts, historical sources, visitors, visits and first-hand experiences will bring the past to life and deliberately broaden children's horizons. We want history to create memories for life and inspire children to continue asking questions about the people and events that came before them.

As a Catholic school, our History curriculum provides opportunities to explore themes of human dignity, justice, equality, community, service and social responsibility. Children will encounter diverse societies, cultures and experiences and learn to approach sensitive and controversial aspects of the past with respect, empathy and intellectual curiosity.

Ultimately, we want our children to leave St Joseph’s proud of their heritage and community, respectful of the experiences of others and equipped with the knowledge and historical thinking needed to understand how the past continues to influence the present.

Our History curriculum is principally informed by the Grammarsaurus History scheme, providing a carefully sequenced progression of historical knowledge, vocabulary, concepts and disciplinary skills from Year 1 to Year 6.

Learning begins with retrieval of prior knowledge. Teachers establish what children already know and deliberately revisit important knowledge so that new learning can be connected to increasingly secure historical frameworks. This is particularly important in developing children's chronological understanding and enabling them to make meaningful connections between different periods and civilisations.

Teachers explicitly model subject-specific vocabulary, historical concepts and the processes used by historians. New material is introduced in manageable steps, supported by modelling, questioning, guided practice and regular checks for understanding. Knowledge organisers provide an additional scaffold, supporting pre-teaching, home learning, vocabulary development and regular retrieval.

Chronology is developed cumulatively throughout the school. Children regularly revisit timelines and previously studied periods so that historical periods are not learnt as isolated topics. As children progress through school, they increasingly consider duration, concurrence and the relationships between different periods, developing a coherent chronological framework of British and wider world history.

Historical enquiry is embedded throughout our curriculum. Children encounter an increasingly wide range of primary and secondary sources, including written evidence, artefacts, photographs, maps, artwork, archaeological evidence and oral accounts. They are explicitly taught to question what sources can tell us, consider their provenance and limitations, compare evidence and use it to support historical conclusions.

Children progressively develop their understanding of the disciplinary concepts of cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, significance, evidence and interpretation. These concepts are deliberately revisited in different historical contexts, enabling children to apply increasingly sophisticated historical thinking.

Where possible, units are introduced or enriched through high-quality literature and engaging historical questions, creating curiosity and providing meaningful contexts for learning. Visits, visitors, artefacts and local studies further deepen children's understanding and provide experiences beyond those they might otherwise encounter.

Our local history curriculum makes purposeful use of Carterton, Oxfordshire and the wider local area, enabling pupils to connect national and international developments with the history of their own community.

Adaptive teaching enables all children, including those with SEND and those joining St Joseph’s at different points in their education, to access the same ambitious historical curriculum. Vocabulary instruction, visual timelines, carefully selected sources, modelling, scaffolded enquiry and alternative means of recording are used where appropriate without reducing the ambition of the historical knowledge being taught.

Assessment is woven throughout teaching. Teachers use retrieval, questioning, pupil discussion, work scrutiny, source analysis and historical enquiry to establish whether children have remembered important knowledge and can apply it in increasingly unfamiliar contexts. Misconceptions and gaps are identified and revisited rather than allowing learning to remain insecure.

By the end of their time at St Joseph’s, our children will be knowledgeable, curious and confident young historians with a secure chronological understanding of the past. They will know more and remember more about the history of their local community, Britain and the wider world and will make meaningful connections between people, places, periods and events.

Children will understand and confidently apply the concepts of chronology, cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, significance, evidence and interpretation. Rather than simply recalling what happened, they will increasingly be able to explain why events happened, what changed as a result, what remained the same and why particular people or events are historically significant.

They will be able to think and work as historians: asking perceptive questions, selecting and examining evidence, comparing sources, recognising different interpretations and using evidence to construct informed conclusions. They will understand that historical knowledge is shaped by the evidence available and will become comfortable with the idea that historical conclusions can sometimes be tentative or contested.

Through regular retrieval and carefully sequenced learning, important historical knowledge and vocabulary will become embedded in children's long-term memory, enabling them to draw upon previous learning when encountering new periods and historical questions.

Children will communicate their historical understanding confidently, using accurate subject-specific vocabulary and selecting appropriate ways to present their ideas, arguments and conclusions. They will increasingly draw upon knowledge and skills from reading, writing, geography and other curriculum areas to deepen their historical thinking.

Through studying different societies, cultures and experiences, children will develop respect for diversity, empathy and an understanding of the complexity of people's lives. They will be increasingly prepared to engage thoughtfully with sensitive and controversial aspects of history and recognise how events of the past continue to influence communities and society today.

Visits, visitors, artefacts, stories and rich historical experiences will create memories for life, while local history will give children a strong sense of identity and belonging. In keeping with our mission, Fidelis in Servitio – Faithful in Service, children will recognise the importance of dignity, justice, community and our shared responsibility to learn from the past.

Most importantly, our children will leave St Joseph’s enjoying history, proud of where they come from and curious to discover more, equipped with the knowledge, vocabulary, critical thinking and historical enquiry skills they need to succeed in the next stage of their education and to understand their place within an ever-changing world.