History Curriculum

History teaching at Wolvey is intended to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding about the life of people who lived in the past and to inspire them to possess a curiosity and fascination about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We want children to thoroughly enjoy learning about history by gaining knowledge and developing their own independent skills, not just through experiences in the classroom using high quality texts, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.

History Knowledge Organisers

A Knowledge Organiser is an exciting new tool displaying an array of information, vocabulary, facts, diagrams, maps and pictures, which children need to know about the forthcoming history topic in their class. Every child will be given a copy of the relevant Knowledge Organiser to read through and to support them in lessons. Currently, we have knowledge organisers for every topic in KS2. Each child has a folder with these in and they go up with them every year. The idea is, that they can refer back to these before starting a new topic, to support them with the idea of chronology, etc. They also help the children recognise and understand new and challenging vocabulary. 

In KS1, our Knowledge Organisers are slightly different and focus solely on supporting the children's understanding of historical vocabulary. They contain words, which are illustrated using Communication In Print symbols. These documents are available for the children to refer to during History lessons.

Displays In School

Bringing History Alive Through High Quality Texts

We strongly believe that high quality texts should be woven through the whole of the curriculum to support and underpin the children's understanding of unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary. Here is a selection of some of the books that we have used to enhance topics. 

The Value of Visitors & Trips!

Here at Wolvey, we know that history can be difficult for children to understand as the world they live in today, is very different to that of the past! Therefore, to help the children engage with the past, we value visitors / historians, who can work alongside our classes, helping to bring topics alive. 

Each year, each class tries to plan in trips that are linked to the subjects being explored. In the past, classes have gone digging for fossils at Cross Keys Quarry, visited Tamworth Castle to learn about the Anglo Saxons and taken part in workshops in Stratford Upon Avon, which have allowed the children to become tour guides for the day! 

World War 1 in Year 6 

In Year 6, the children spend the Autumn Term, learning all about WW1 and its terrible impact on the world. To enhance their experience, we visit The Staffordshire Regiment Museum & we also engage in a workshop in school that allows the children to handle equipment from the time. 

Also, for Remembrance, we visit our local village hall and take part in the service there. In the past, the children have also displayed their work, as part of a local event, which celebrated Wolvey's involvement in the Great War.