At Temple Mill, our commitment is to provide a high-quality history education that transforms our students into historians, equipped with a comprehensive knowledge, skills, and understanding of both Britain’s past and the broader global context. We aim to ignite their curiosity, fostering an eagerness to delve deeper into history, including exploring their local communities. Our history curriculum is crafted to be inclusive for every child, leveraging the richness of our local historical area through enrichment activities that enhance children’s engagement.
Aligned with the National Curriculum for History, we use 'Primary Connected' scheme, which outlines essential requirements for the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge, and skills for Key Stage 1 & 2. Our goal is to inspire a passion for history throughout a child’s journey in our school, instilling the understanding that history involves real people and events. Including local history helps connect the subject to the children's own community.
Through the study of history at Temple Mill, children not only gain a broad understanding of past events but also cultivate critical thinking skills. These skills enable them to navigate the nuanced nature of historical knowledge, distinguishing between 'fact' and subjectivity when forming conclusions and judgments about the past. Our curriculum integrates cross-curricular learning, incorporating, Geography, Art, English and Mathematics etc into relevant and engaging investigations that encourage in-depth exploration of places, issues, people, and events.
Beginning in EYFS, where students explore their own and their family’s past and present, we continue to provide opportunities for reactivating learning, reflecting on sequence, understanding time and chronology, and studying evidence about the past. This process contributes to a sense of identity and a deeper comprehension of historical events.
To enrich the curriculum delivery, we offer students opportunities for experiential learning through visits to local museums and historical sites, with a specific focus on Medway’s local history. We expose them to contemporaneous historical evidence, including narratives, paintings, photographs, artefacts, and data such as censuses and films, fostering analytical skills to reach informed conclusions and make judgments. Diverse and differentiated methods are employed for students to record their outcomes, such as PowerPoint presentations, concept mapping, annotated diagrams, improvised drama, and hook days. This approach ensures that knowledge is embedded, allowing our pupils to build on their understanding from one year to the next. At Temple Mill, our commitment to a rich and comprehensive history education creates an environment where students not only learn about the past but actively engage with it, fostering a lifelong appreciation for history.
Curriculum Overview
