History

You have to know the past to understand the present - Carl Sagan

At Higher Openshaw Community School history education should be fully inclusive to every child. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for history; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to develop a love for history. Furthermore, we aim to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about history that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world (The 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England).

History teaching at Higher Openshaw Community School has a wide application to everyday life, teaching the children to enjoy learning about the past and to have a better understanding of the society in which they live. 

The aims of teaching history in our school are:

• to inspire pupils’ curiosity to discover more about the past and to develop an understanding that enables them to enjoy all that history has to offer;
• to enable children to know about significant events in British history and to appreciate how things have changed over time;
• to develop a sense of chronology;
• to know and understand how the British system of democratic government has developed and, in so doing, to contribute to a child’s citizenship education;
• to understand how Britain is part of a wider European culture and to study some aspects of European history;
• to have some knowledge and understanding of historical development in the wider world;
• to help children understand society and their place within it, so that they develop a sense of their cultural heritage;
• to develop in children the skills of enquiry, investigation, analysis, evaluation, debate, interpretation, problem solving and presentation.