Becoming a Historian at BFPA
Bedrock: Timeline
Our aim is that children who leave our school in Year 6 will be able:
- To display a good chronological awareness of the past. They will know where certain civilizations and events fit within a timeline.
- To identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different time periods.
- To investigate the past using their understanding of source work including the concept of bias.
- To discuss the causes and consequences of progression throughout History in the areas studied.
- To apply disciplinary and substantive concepts when analysing the past.
- To understand a range of ways that humans have been able to accurately find out about the past.
- To use and understand the language and vocabulary of an historian.
- To present their learning in a range of ways including written and oral outcomes.
How our children learn to be an Historian
Every year, our children complete a unit of work on chronology and learn about it using a timeline. The children do this by initially applying the timeline to themselves and their own life and then move on to learn about how and why certain aspects of life have changed over time. This unit is called the Long Arc.
Foundation Stage – My life
Year 1 – How am I making History?
Year 2 – How was school different in the past?
Year 3 – Have toys become more fun over time?
Year 4 – How has clothing changed over time?
Year 5 – How have weapons become more efficient?
Year 6 – How has medicine developed over time?
Once our children have a sense of chronology they are ready to take a deeper dive into different time periods and civilisations. In addition to finding out about how people from different time periods and civilisations lived, our children will also learn about how historians have found out about life in the past through source work. They will learn to compare and contrast different time periods and suggest reasons for the similarities and differences.
Our children are provided with good quality sources and experience as much as they can first hand from trips, visitors and artefacts. The children learn how to present their learning in both written and oral formats gaining in confidence and becoming purposeful, respectful historians.
