What is it?

Historical enquiry is all about asking questions or hypothesising about the past that we hope the evidence will help us to answer. It is however, more than just a question. It involves the children being able to build systematically through a unit to be able to answer that question.

​At OLSA, at the start of every session, there is an enquiry-led topic that focuses on the following key aspects:

1) A carefully considered question

2) A sequence of lessons which all contribute knowledge and understanding to help answer the overall question.

3) A clear understanding of what knowledge is to be gained throughout

We begin by using the National Curriculum to develop our enquiry questions. E.g. when considering changes within living memory, we will explore the knowledge of how communication or technology is different now. This will involve exploration of how things are similar and different; what has continued and what has changed; and evaluation of the evidence to prove or refute this.

From this type of analysis, we could use the questions, "How has life changed from when Mum and Grandma were young?" and "Which was the most important change in living memory?" to begin our studies.

In Key Stage 2, the period of history provides a clear knowledge base as to what content to be taught.