We believe that, through the study of history, children make sense of their world, begin to make links between facts and their knowledge, and enrich their understanding of it. We aim for an ambitious, high quality history curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining this knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits. Fundamental in the intent of the curriculum is the sequence in which history is taught. Through carefully planned units, children are able to build upon previous topics, and make links between periods.  We believe this is important to enable children to gain a deeper understanding of the chronology of events. This enables children to understand the wider aspects of events of the past and discover a sense of identity and cultural understanding based on their historical heritage.

Miss Fleming is the subject leader for History. She is passionate about children learning from first hand experiences and believes that, through the study of history, children can begin to develop an understanding of the world in which they live. She believes that encouraging children to ask and answer those 'bigger' questions will enable them to gain a sense of the world around them. It is through these experiences that they will begin to make links with previously taught units to further inspire and promote curiosity into our own heritage.

Miss Fleming wants children to enjoy and love learning and regularly arranges field trips to provide first hand opportunities to handle artefacts; listen to people who experienced events first hand and provide opportunities to question people who are specialists in their knowledge of history.

Intent - What Do We Aspire For Our Children?

Our Curriculum Intent for History

At OLSA, we provide a high-quality history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge about British, local and world history. Underpinning each concept is a firm reliance upon children's knowledge of chronology. Curriculum content is knowledge, vocabulary and experience rich, delivered in a sequenced chronological order, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract historical concepts as they move through school. Wherever possible, the curriculum reflects our locality and endeavours to ensure children are knowledgeable about their locality’s history and the changes it has seen both in terms of events and significant individuals. Our history curriculum promotes curiosity and a love for learning about the past.  Through an enquiry based approach, children are encouraged to ask and explore historically valid questions and report their findings by drawing on skills from across the curriculum.

Alongside the development of substantive knowledge, children will develop their disciplinary skills as they learn the fundamental elements of what it is to be a historian.  Children will study a range of cultures and historical perspectives enabling them to be respectful, tolerant and empathetic, linking in key British Values. We aspire that children will move on from OLSA being knowledgeable about key people, events and time periods from the past and will weave these together to form informed, overarching historical narratives.

Key Vocabulary:

Vocabulary is extremely important when exploring history. Children will encounter a variety of terms that will be repeated through each unit and through each year for familiarity:

Empire, Conflict, Trade, Economy, Pioneer, Civilisation

As part of their learning in History on Turning Points within WW2, Year 6 went to Whitworth  Museum to understand the impact that war had on our own locality. They discovered all about evacuees within the area and explored images of what it was like during an air raid. 

As part of the children's learning on how transport has changed over time in the local area, the children in year 4 visited Whitworth Heritage Museum to learn all about the importance of the local railway line and the trams system on the high street. The children explored a variety of images and learned all about how the viaduct helped transport vital materials from the cotton mills locally to Manchester - making that the 'Cottonopolis' of the North.

As part of the children's historical enquiry learning in year 4, the children received a very special loan box full of Egyptian artefacts. They asked and answered questions to decipher what the objects were, what they were used for and why they were important. The children gained a good understanding of how artefacts such as these help us interpret the past.

As part of their historical enquiry, children in year 3 examined a range of stone age to iron age artefacts to discover what life was like during that period. The children posed and answered questions to identify the origin of the artefacts and how they have impacted society, even today.

On Tuesday, 4th October 2022, Year 6 visited Whitworth Library to listen to a range of stories about WW2. Whilst at the library, the children completed a WW2 quiz to test their knowledge, browsed the resources available and selected further texts to take home.

In Summer term, Year 3 visited Whitworth Library to explore more stories based around their learning on The Romans. The children listened to stories being read to them; all about the Empire of Rome. They then had a little activity to complete - researching and solving clues as to the Roman impact. The children thoroughly enjoyed the trip and learned so much!

On Friday, 19th November, Year 6 visited Whitworth Heritage Museum to learn all about the impact of WW2 in the local area. On arrival to the museum, the children were given a talk on the jobs of women during war in the munitions factories and local farms in Whitworth.

The children also saw the effects of evacuation on Whitworth, where it was explained that many Manchester based children were evacuated to Whitworth from September 3rd, 1939. Paula from the museum also shared stories of her own father's experience of evacuation from Gorton which made the experience extremely relevant.

Year 6 were then shown how Whitworth stayed safe during the bombings of 1942. Right across from our very own school were three local bomb shelters and wardens were placed high above Cowm Reservoir to identify aircrafts that were flying over. We even got the opportunity to sound the air raid siren of the time!

To commemorate Remembrance in school, each class again decorated their class as a reminder to those who have served during war. We recognised not just the soldiers of Britain, but those who fought alongside us from other countries and colonies, as well as the animals that also served during war.

Year 2 enjoyed a trip to Whitworth Heritage Museum to assist them with their understanding on their current History unit of Remembrance. At the museum, the events of the war were explained to the children and they explored people from the local area who fought and died within this great war. It was a fantastic experience for the children to be able to handle artefacts of the time period, along with learn about the importance of Whitworth during this period.

Historical Enquiry:

Amelia C: "I really enjoyed the afternoon when we spent time looking through primary sources of evidence - artefacts, written accounts, photographs, propaganda posters and newspapers. They taught us how life was very different for the children at that time. When we examined the evacuee suitcase, we realised that children could only take the essentials away with them. We also realised that of the toys that they had, they too were limited. This is very different to our lives now."

Freya: "It really enjoyed the afternoon investigating - it was fun!" We saw exactly what life was like for people at that time and how they must have lived."

Matthew: "I found it very interesting to learn how they lived in comparison to what we live like in the present. It was obvious that they did not have the same privileges as what we have today. It was very informative to explore the different types of sources that we can analyse to discover about the past."

Oscar: "It was very strange to see how little the people had back then but when we discovered about the rationing, it made sense. I loved trying on the masks to see how people must have felt when they were in the war."

Emily: "I thought is was very limited in what these people had in their lives and must have been very sad to leave home with so little. I could not believe how uncomfortable the masks were for people - it must have been very frightening to hear the bombs outside then put these on. It was amazing to see how many things we could use to tell us about the past."