History : Dereham Church Of England Infant and Nursery Academy

At Dereham Church Of England Infant and Nursery Academy, we are passionate about providing opportunities for children to step into the role of a historian and to immersive themselves with the past.

Remembrance Day Whole School Project

Each child proudly decorated their own poppy last week to help create a display on our school fence to show our respect to the brave soldiers who fought for our country. The children received a lesson all about why Remembrance Day is a special day and why we wear poppies at this time of the year.

History in Year 1

Year 1 – Spring 2: Kings and Queens

Banquet and Ball Day

For our Kings and Queens theme, the children in Year 1 learnt all about medieval castles, the job roles they had within the castle and how it compares to today. To finish our unit, the children were invited to dress up. We had Kings, Queens and Knights! During this special day the children made their own sandwiches and jam tarts to eat at the banquet and learnt a royal dance to perform at the ball!

History in Year 2

Year 2 – Autumn 2: The Great Fire of London

Enquiry based learning – What happened in London in 1666?

To start their new history topic, the children completed an enquiry based activity. The children were presented with many images and were told that something terrible happened in 1666. The children were asked to step into the role of a historian and investigate what happened, when it happened and why it happened by looking carefully at the clues in front of them!

The Great Fire of London Workshop

This half term, we have been stepping into the role of Historians and have been learning all about The Great Fire of London. We had a GFOL workshop where the children made 1666 houses with their grown ups. We then used these to create our very own Pudding Lane before re-enacting the historical event by setting the houses on fire to see how quickly fire can spread!

Year 2 – Spring 2: Walk to Dereham’s World War 2 Pillbox

This half term Year 2 have been learning all about World War 2. The children went on a walk to see Dereham’s World War 2 Pillbox. We discussed what it was used for and why there were poppies and a silhouette of a soldier there.

Year 2 – Spring 2: Being historians!

At Dereham Church of England Infant and Nursery Academy we encourage children to be provided with opportunities to step into the role of a historian where possible. During Spring 2, the children in Year 2 have been learning all about World War 2. The children completed an enquiry lesson where they looked at an ‘evacuee’s suitcase’ and discussed what the artefacts inside were and what they told us about life as an evacuee during WW2.

Year 2 – Spring 2 – World War 2 Day!

The children stepped back in time and went back to 1939 – World War 2. The children started their day with a walk to the local train station to go on a train. We thought about what it would have been like to be evacuated. On the train we sang the war song ‘Pack up your troubles’. We then returned to school where we used our own ration books to get ingredients to make jam sandwiches and scones. We ended our day in 1945 and celebrated the war being over with a street party with our grown ups!

Intent Statement

At Dereham Church Of England Infant and Nursery Academy we want to instil a passion for history in all of our children. We pride ourselves on providing the opportunity for every single child to step into the shoes of a historian and be given the freedom to debate, critique and share their opinions on the past and current changes. Our aim is for children to not only require a knowledge of historical events but also be instilled with a fascination and wonder of the past, the now and the potential future.

All of our staff recognise the importance of history as a foundation for allowing children to understand how the past has helped to shape the future they have and deserve and the journey that significant male and female individuals have gone on to provide this for us all. To achieve our vision, we ensure that our lessons are active and hands on and include plenty of opportunities to come face to face with photographs, artefacts and videos from the past. We also recognise the wonderful stories that members of our children’s families have and the power they have to bring children’s understanding of history to life and therefore actively encourage participation and involvement from members of the community in any way possible.

We want children to understand that history is all around them. DCINS have created a close link with Bishop Bonner’s Cottage and frequently take children on trips to places such as Gressenhall Workhouse to show that history is right on our doorstep.

Our curriculum has been designed to support children in developing a deep understanding of chronology and where certain events in the past happened in comparison to others, through this we aim to equip children with the skills to piece together the puzzle of history. Our careful consideration of the skills and historical knowledge that we teach allow our children to access and continue their learning into Year 3 and their next stages of learning.

History at DCINS is planned to ensure that children can learn from the past but can also be exposed to significant influential people who they can be inspired and motivated by.

Implementation Statement

We believe that even our youngest of learners can begin to understand the world through focusing on past events in their lives and the lives of their family. Therefore history begins in Nursery and continues throughout every year group. In early years, history is taught every half term where they will begin to make sense of past and present through stories, photos, discussions and, where possible, handling objects. In Key Stage 1, history is taught every half term, on a rotation with geography. Each lesson will begin with an opportunity to discuss what history is and with revisiting prior learning, allowing children to embed the knowledge they need to make future connections and comparisons in their new learning. Each history lesson is planned with our learners in mind, ensuring that every lesson adaptations have been made to ensure every child can be successful, supported and even challenged where appropriate. Our staff will model the skills and vocabulary needed for that particular lesson and where possible, opportunities will be created for artefacts and sources to be used to allow children to step into the role of a historian.

To support with chronology, our school corridor will have a timeline displayed with all of the events and historical figures they have previously learnt from previous school years and where new information can be added. Classrooms will display key vocabulary, knowledge and display fiction and non-fiction books related to the topic, allowing children to use literature to discover more.

Our historians will be provided with a variety of memorable first hand experiences both in and out of the classroom allowing them to understand the past, embed knowledge into their long-term memory and make connections to the local area.

Impact Statement

At Dereham Church Of England Infant and Nursery Academy, pupil voice surveys show that children are confident discussing what they have learnt in their history lessons and can recall key vocabulary learnt. Our immersive days, allow children the opportunity to dress up and step back in time to experience what it was like to live during different periods of time. Our focus on recapping prior learning and develop a sense of chronology will aim to allow children to constantly draw conclusions, comparisons and own personal opinions on the different events and people from the past. We strive for history to be a subject that all children can be fascinated by and therefore acquire the long-term memory of the skills, knowledge and vocabulary needed to continue their journey of discovering the past.