History

History at HFJS is taught in alternate terms following the Cornerstones Curriculum which is designed and created using National Curriculum objectives for learning and progression across all year groups. Children complete learning based on their termly Interactive Learning Projects. They will complete 3 longer topics across the year with each subject focusing on either History or Geography whilst also offering cross-curricular links. At the beginning of each new topic, children have an enrichment opportunity to create awe and wonder in the subject. Their Interactive Learning Project provides a theme for our English lessons to create a connected curriculum.

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If the topic is a history-led topic then the children have a themed day at the beginning of their learning to create engagement and excitement for the children.  On this day, the children immerse themselves into a life from that era by dressing up and completing daily tasks as people would have done in those times.  The children create work for displays throughout their Interactive Learning Project to exhibit across the school.

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At HFJS, we believe that our local history is extremely important and strive to offer the children opportunities to access and explore it. We have well-established connections with Higham Ferrers Town Council and Higham Tourism to aid the teaching and learning of our local history.  Informative volunteers from these establishments take great pride in working with us to help the children learn about Higham Ferrers’ rich historical heritage.  Teaching staff had a historic guided tour of Higham Ferrers to enable them to teach the children a wealth of local history as Higham Ferrers Historical Market Town is a gem in our local area.

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Every year, in the autumn term all of our children visit Chichele College for an afternoon to learn about: Higham Ferrers’ famous son Henry Chichele; historical events which have taken place in the town; Higham Ferrers’ Historical Charters which have been restored following a lottery funded grant.

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This year (2022) saw Chichele College celebrate its 600th year and the children were invited to complete activities at the College linked to its milestone birthday, including quizzes about Henry Chichele and the College grounds as well as quill writing with ink to make their very own bookmarks which the children absolutely loved. As well as this, the children were invited to attend the official 600-year celebrations held on a weekend where they could showcase what they had learned during their visit, promoting a love of history outside of school, too.

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This year, we have forged links with the Rockingham Forest Trust who provide an excellent service to engage the children into their history and geography learning in our local area.  They run a project called ‘Settlers of the Nene Valley’ which provides activities to explore the Nene Valley, its people, heritage and identity in a changing landscape of the Nene Valley from Neolithic times to Medieval.  They focus on: the journeys that the Settlers made, where and how they lived, and what we can learn from them.

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To ensure our history lessons are exciting and engaging we use resources boxes from the Northamptonshire libraries service who provide us with a variety of resources including books and artefacts.