Our Vision

At St John’s our aim is to inspire our young children to develop a desire to explore the world we live in and to understand its people. To spark a love of learning and a thirst for understanding and knowledge. We do this through investigating times in history which will help our children grasp the changes from past to present day. At St John’s we build empathy through studying the lives and struggles of those who have gone before us and from whose actions we have benefited. We learn to assess evidence and develop critical thinking as our children become more independent in their learning.

We seek to enable children to apply these skills and communicate their understanding of life in the past.

How we teach History at St John's

The aim of our History Curriculum is to motivate our children to understand their place in the world by linking the past to the present day. Events are planned to allow the children to 'experience' the history that they are learning about.

At St John’s we follow the Early Years Framework and National Curriculum. We have developed our own progressions of skills which carefully plans for progression and depth, concentrating on the skills suited to each age group.

In EYFS the History Curriculum fits under the ‘Understanding of the World’ and is taught through child-initiated learning. Across years 1 and 2 there is a focus on building the children’s:

1. Knowledge of the past versus the present

2. Understanding of differences between past and present

3. Appreciation of how the past influences the present and future

Independent learning is a main focus and children are encouraged to question and enquire about any topic which interests them in the past.