Aims:

History is important as it provides context for the world we live in today.  As well as understanding the past it enables us to make sense of the present .  At Bournville Primary School, we want our children to love history and develop a good understanding of chronology and important themes in the subject. Our history curriculum aims to provide children with a breadth of times and places to develop a world of history that matches the diversity of our community.  

In the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) children begin their understanding of the differences between past and present through visits and visitors, a variety of carefully chosen texts, vocabulary development and enhanced provision.  As children move through the school, they will be exposed to a curriculum planned in chronological order to secure their understanding of what has gone before, and the impact events can have on each other. In KS1, alongside careful teaching of key knowledge, artefacts and trips enable pupils to gain an understanding of momentous events in World History as well as appreciating how things change over time. 

In September 2023, we adopted the Opening Worlds humanities curriculum for history, geography and R.E in Key Stage 2.  

Opening Worlds curriculum, and it's associated teaching approaches, aims to secure the highest possible quality of education for pupils. This is because the curriculum ensures that the subjects reflect the wide reference and academic practices, outside of school, to which they refer. In addition, the material is organised so that pupils use earlier material to access to later material and so that pupils start to see how everything connects within a subject.

 Opening Worlds has strongly recommended that the material is taught in sequence because each part makes the next part much more understandable.  Numerous words that are explicitly taught in Year 3 are then taken for granted in lessons in Year 4-6.  If children do not have the secure knowledge of the content and vocabulary of the Year 3 curriculum this is likely to slow progress and limit enjoyment.

All key stage 2 children started with the Year 3 Opening Worlds curriculum last year.  As a result of moving from the school’s previous curriculum to Opening Worlds, the school has identified a small number of content gaps.  These have been noted and will be addressed through our choice of books that are used in English and read to children, field trips and acts of collective worship.

Below is a plan for the implementation of the Opening Worlds curriculum: