History
Our Vision
At White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School, we believe that, through the study of history, we can help our pupils make sense of their world and enrich their understanding of it.
Through our history curriculum we hope that pupils will gain knowledge and understanding of the past within our own locality, our country and the wider world. They will learn about the complexity of peoples’ lives, the diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups of people in the past.
Our history curriculum is designed and constantly adapted to meet the needs and interests of the children which is clearly seen in the development of the history within our EYFS settings as they use ‘Understanding the World’ from Development Matters to underpin their history teaching based on the children’s interests.
Within our history teaching we develop the essential skills and understanding which are the building blocks for later life, such as developing an understanding of the events which led to World War II and how we can learn from these or how the Anglo-Saxon influence on Dover and the surrounding areas can still be seen today.
We recognise that as a school we have chosen to teach history in a thematic way as opposed to following teaching history in a chronological order and this has been carefully decided basing our approach on not only what works for our children ‘sequencing in a meaningful way that enables children to make connections and progress across sequences of lessons, terms and years’ (White Cliffs Curriculum Intent 2022). But also, on educational research which supports our decisions to teach history in a more meaningful, logical, and psychologically appealing way (Smith 1980, Fabino 1992) which is supported by Bruner’s meaning-centred cognitive theory.
Making History Memorable
To support learning, the children at White Cliffs engage in memorable experiences to help with knowledge recall and to provide context to the events they are learning about. These activities have included creative tasks linked to art, dress up days, cooking activities and immersive workshops with outside visitors.
Year 4- Ancient Greek Day
To finish their term's learning of Ancient Greece, our Year 4 class immersed themselves in a whole day devoted to becoming greek citizens. They started their day by coming into school in the most amazing greek costumes and performing their class assembly. Parents, carers and the whole school watched as the children spoke confidently about the different facts and information they had been learning. They children wrote their script themselves, choosing the knowledge and facts they wanted to share with their audience as well as deciding on the songs, backdrops and images they wished to use. They continued their day taking part in food tasting, trying the different cuisine that they have been learning about in their classroom lessons. To finish the afternoon, the children took part in an art activity which allowed them to apply their knowledge of Greek buildings when creating cardboard temples. They had to choose between the 3 types of column designs and ensure they included all the key features of a greek temple. This allowed them to consolidate their learning of the key vocabularly in a fun and creative way.
Year 3- Mummification
To enhance their learning about the Ancient Eygptians, Year 3 explored the mummification process in an immersive and very creative way. They explored the different stages before putting their knowledge into practice by mummifying Barbie dolls. The children enjoyed each of the steps such as washing them using water from the 'River Nile', removing their organs, drying them out in salt, wrapping them in linen and placing them inside a sarcophagus. To finish, they also created small masks to cover their faces, mimmicing the complete process from the time period. The children spoke animatedly about this lesson and could use lots of the key vocabulary in the correct context.
Year 2- Fire Pit Fun!
To support their understanding of the Great Fire of London, our Year 2 children spent some time at the fire pit on the school field. They experienced what fire is like and how quickly it can grow and spread; enhancing their understanding of the impact the fire had on London in 1666. The children observed the flames and used their senses to describe the fire. This then supported them to write their diary entries from the perspective of Samuel Pepys.
Cross Curricular Learning
At White Cliffs a lot of our history teaching is further explored and deepened within other curriculum subjects. English lends itself brilliantly for children to explore what life what like for people during different time periods and allows the children to present their knowledge and understanding in a creative way.
Year 4- Fact Files
The Year 4 children spent time developing their computing research skills when creating fact files about Hercules. This learning took place in their English sessions and is a fantastic example of cross curricular learning. The children organsied their information into different sub-headings and were allowed to record and create their fact files however they wanted. They discussed the reliability of different information sources, such as the Disney version, and drew some amazing illustrations.
Year 2- significant people
Within Key Stage 1 the children explore a range of significant people linked to the key historical events or time periods they are studying. In Year 2, the children have learnt about Samuel Peyps alongside their history topic of 'The Great Fire of London'. The children have learnt facts about their significant person and explored his diary entries about the historical event. In their English lessons, they aged paper and wrote their own diary entries about the Great Fire, using their writing skills to deepen their historical understanding.
Local Trips and Visits
White Cliffs is incredibly lucky to have a wide range of historical sites nearby to visit and enrich our history curriculum. Each year group plans and explores a different local area site and the children are exposed to a rich range of historical trips and visits during their time at our school.
Year 6- Kent Life Viking Day
Our Year 6 classes enjoyed an unforgettable Viking Day at Kent Life, where they stepped back in time to experience life as true Norse settlers. The children rampaged their way through the day with enthusiasm, taking part in a range of hands-on activities and learning about Viking life, culture and traditions.
National Events & Celebrations
At White Cliffs we celebrate many national events, often with whole school assemblies and in-class activities. The calendar of events are earmarked at the beginning of each year and are celebrated throughout the whole school.
Black History Month
Black History Month is celebrated every year at White Cliffs. During this time, all classes exlpore and celebrate the incredible achievements of different significant black figures from history, such as Matthew Henson who was studied in 2024. Last year we worked with our music curriculum and followed a calendar of black composers, listening to a different musician each day in October. This was reinforced by Term 2's 'Composer of the Term' being Scott Joplin, a famous black american composer.
This year we developed our skills in historical enquiry by looking at a range of different photo sources. The theme and focus for Black History Month this year was 'honouring communities'. The photo sources were carefully chosen around the Windrush movement and built the children's knowledge about Asquith Xavier, the first black train guard at London Euston Station. This inspirational person lived in Chatham, Kent, making him a local significant figure.
Across the school, the children completed different tasks to build a picture of what life was like in post-war Britain and why the Windrush movement was important. They looked at 4 different photo sources which allowed them to ask questions and delve deeper into the history of each source; becoming Historical Detectives.
Aside from these activities, a mystery person was shown to the children without any other information. This created quite a buzz across the school, with children asking amazing questions whilst suggesting great theories as to who this person was and why we need to remember him. Our mystery person was then revealed in a whole school assembly. Walter Tull started his life very close to us in Folkestone and became one of the first black professional outfield footballers for Tottenham Hotspur but also one of the first black officers in WW1. The children were gripped by his story and werwe outraged that his family are still fighting for his achievements to be recognised with a Millitary Cross.
