St Dunstan's SchoolHistory Curriculum
“The more that you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.” T. Roosevelt
The aim of history teaching here at St Dunstan’s is to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding about the life of people who lived in the past. We teach children a sense of chronology, and through this they develop a sense of identity and a cultural understanding based on their historical heritage. They learn to value their own and other people’s cultures in modern multicultural Britain and, by considering how people lived in the past, they are better able to make their own life choices today.
In our school, history makes a significant contribution to citizenship education by teaching about how Britain developed as a democratic society. We teach children to understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today; we also teach them to investigate these past events and, by so doing, to develop the skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem-solving.
At Saint Dunstan’s, the teaching of history is driven by the context of theschool and its curriculum aims. We aim to inspire pupils to be curious about the past and equip them to ask insightful questions, think critically and generate considered, evidence-based arguments and develop
perspective and judgement. We want our pupils to develop an understanding of the complexity of
their own and other’s lives and recognise how the past directly impacts upon and influences the present and the future.
It is important that children understand their place in history by providing a chronological
framework which enables them, through high quality, passionate teaching, to draw conclusions and make connections from significant periods (e.g. events and/or individuals) within or beyond their living memory.
We aim to help children to understand the process of change, the diversity of societies as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
