The teaching and learning of history at Little Digmoor links directly to our whole school curriculum intent. We have personalised our history curriculum at Little Digmoor to reflect our children and families. We have carefully chosen substantive concepts for children to explore in detail; these are agriculture, culture, leadership, migration and technology. These concepts are introduced in Early Years (Reception), built on in KS1 and secured in KS2.
We have chosen agriculture as there is a lot of rural land around Skelmersdale and the surrounding areas. Our school is also built where Digmoor Hall Farm once stood over 100 years ago. We chose culture as it will allow us to look at periods on a more general scale, we have a lot of varied cultures at our school so this will allow us to explore these throughout history. We have chosen leadership as our school council help to make decisions in school, with democracy being one area of leadership, we wanted to explore how leadership has changed through history. The Royal Family are also a part of British culture and Britain has seen many royal families through history. We chose migration as it is a common theme throughout history, people have always migrated to Britain for various reasons. We have many families at our school who have migrated to the UK so it was important for us as a school to ensure our children understand why people migrate. We chose technology as it is an interesting part of history and will incite children’s awe and wonder. Technology is not just computer-based advancements, it starts with the first tools ever made in the first civilisations and continues through the ages to where we are now, with aero-planes, machinery, phones and artificial intelligence.
We ensure diversity and inclusion through the significant individuals and events we look at, ensuring these are people with a range of backgrounds, ethnicities and contributions to history. Our history curriculum also teaches children the British Values; democracy and rule of law are taught through our ‘leadership’ concept, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance are taught through our ‘culture’ and ‘migration’ concepts.
We believe that history enables children to gain knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past, and that of the wider world. Our history curriculum has been purposefully planned to promote children’s curiosity, with substantive concepts that relate to the children’s lives. We teach children disciplinary skills which will equip them with the knowledge to develop a chronological awareness, make historical enquiries, make historical interpretations and identify continuity and change, similarities and differences and cause and consequence within different periods.
As well as creating our own personalised history curriculum, we have chosen to use History Association (HA) to support our planning and delivery of our bespoke curriculum. The HA describe themselves as “the UK’s voice for history.” They are a registered charity that aim to get children involved in the teaching, learning and enjoyment of history at all levels. We also have a subscription to the Skelmersdale Heritage Society which supports our local history studies.