History
In Year 3 and 4, the children begin their understanding of history by looking at English history from the Stone Age to the Anglo Saxons. They learn how to put the Stone Age, Iron Age, Celts, Romans and Anglo Saxons on a timeline and they then learn how the periods fit together. They study the changes to everyday life as Britain became settled, and they study in depth the various settlers who came to Britain in that time period. Lastly they do a detailed local study, looking at where Wimbledon and Kingston were situated on the borders of Mercia and Wessex in the Anglo Saxon period, and why Kingston was an important centre where Kings were crowned. They will then look at the reasons for the Norman invasion. They engage in simple historical enquiry by examining sources and artefacts and learn about the effect of differing viewpoints and begin to use the skills of enquiry, deduction and inference independently to discover and explain how people lived and their lasting influence on Britain today. Year 3 and 4 also do a comparative study of Ancient Egypt, to broaden their historical inquiry out into the rest of the world during the early medieval period.
The Year 5s move on from the Invaders and Settlers theme by focusing on the Tudors and the early modern period. They then begin to broaden their understanding of world history and other cultures by looking at the Mayans, the Early Islamic civilisations and the Greeks. Their enquiry-based learning concepts such as Crime and Punishment and Leisure and Entertainment and looks at how these change over time.
Year 6 continue to broaden their inquiries by looking at more modern British history of the Victorians and World War Two. They continue to study other cultures, covering both the Shang Dynasty and Benin. Their historical concept unit is Black and British, where they look at identity and changes over time.