At Camelford Primary, our intent is to instil a love of history in our children.  Our aim is to develop their knowledge and understanding of the past, to enable them to have a greater insight into the community in which we live and the wider world.   By gaining an understanding of inspirational people and past achievements, children will obtain their own sense of self and identify, enabling them to become confident, aspirational learners.  Children will be encouraged to think critically, ask and answer historical questions whilst examining the validity and reliability of sources.  To embed learning, children will gain real-life experiences inside and outside of school through educational trips and utilising local members of the community and their experiences. Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and ensures that themes are revisited, with clear progression in both historical knowledge and skills to enable a deeper learning and understanding of history.

Our vision is for each and every child to gain an understanding of the world around them within the context of history. To be excited by the events and people of the past and undersatnd how they have shaped the world that they live in today. 

We believe every child should feel excited about history and equiped with the skills and understanding to talk about key events and people and how they are significant. 

Our curriculum enables us to provide this opportunity for all.

Year 1/2 have been learning to be Historians by understanding that they can use a range of sources to build up a reliable picture of what happened in The Great Fire of London. Amongst many great learning opportunities including timeline work, asking and answering historical questions and using different sources of historical bevidence, the pupils visited Delabole Fire Station where they were able to recreate ‘The Great Fire!’

The pupils listened to the firefighters talk about their jobs and how they keep safe as well asking relevant and interesting questions. 

One of the most exciting parts was when they created their own mini fire of London.  They made Puddling Lane by placing the Tudor houses they had made in school in a line...the houses were then set alight! 

All the children sang a song to retell the story as the houses were burning! 

In the Autumn Term, Year 3 and 4 led historical enquires around the Romans! They had a wide range of learning opportunities including a whole day workshop with real-life artefacts and experts in in the field. Learning linked all across the subjects enabling the pupils to fully embed their learning and skills. Some of the historical skills and knowledge gained included:

Constructing and recapping on past events using a timeline.

Identifying where the Roman Empire came from 

Using sources of evidence to research Julius Caesar, understand Julius Caesars attempted invasion identify how the Roman Empire impacted Britain and enquire how did Britain become part of the Roman Empire.

Recall Britain's settlement by the Anglo-Saxons and Scots and explore the impact this had in Britain and the world.

Amongst discovering Roman artefacts and information finding, the Roman workshop provided pupils with an opportunity to understand the power of the Roman army. 

Some further core questions the pupils explored included:

Why was the Roman Army successful?  Balanced arguments. Who was Boudica and how did she rebel against the Romans? Why did the Romans withdraw from Britain AD410? Why did this happen if they were so successful and ruthless? 

Year 5 and 6 have been learning all about Ernest Shackleton and his adventures on the Endurance. The children used a range of Historical skills to help them build their knowledge of him, what he did and how. Through a range of enquiry led learning opportunities, pupils have:

- Identified facts and information from a range of sources (photos, diary extracts and info texts) 

- Asked relevant questions about source reliability                               

- Selected evidence from a range of sources to support judgements giving reasoning                             

- Scrutinised sources- commenting on the reliability and context 

The topic culminated with a debate and blog aimed at answering our key question.

What do you think? Was Shackleton the epitome of resilience?

Take a look at our Ice Worlds flip book to see more of the learnign in this topic.

Ice worlds Flipbook

[pdf 9MB]