History at Westminster
Lead: Mrs A Wells
At Westminster Primary Academy, we regard History as a great deal more than learning facts. We see it as an opportunity for our pupils to develop essential skills of enquiry and questioning, encouraging them to become ‘historical detectives’, exploring the past in an exciting and relevant way. We provide a range of first hand experiences with role play, class visits, workshops, artefacts and ‘historical visitors’ enhancing our topics.
History is currently taught through our cross curricular topics and presented in a variety of creative ways, from art to drama to computing and writing. Our children are encouraged to use a variety of historical sources to help them discover the past by looking for clues and evidence. Children learn to make comparisons and links between the past and modern times, looking for how and why things have changed and the important contributions made by diverse individuals and communities. They consider events and the lives of people in the past, from Britain and the wider world, and their influence on our lives today.
For us, History is a window from the present, looking out towards the past, to help inform us of the future.
“Sergeant” Powell has been into year 2 to talk about what life was like for a WW1 soldier.
The children looked at real artefacts from WW1 and Mrs Powell was dressed up as a soldier. The children practiced some army drills too!