History | West Boldon Primary School

At West Boldon Primary School our mission is for all of our children to become responsible citizens of tomorrow. We know that an essential part of this mission is the effective study and reflective learning of History.

Through following the Dimensions “Learning means the World” curriculum, our pupils will develop their own cultural capital and take part in discussions around what it is to be a good UK and global citizen. History introduces pupils to diversity within different societies and the relationships between different groups overtime, challenging them to view events from different time periods and perspectives. Leading eventually to greater empathy and understanding if events and situations.

Our curriculum enables pupils to:

Gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of the history of Britain and the wider world
Explore cause and consequence, identifying catalysts for change, the effects on society and reasons for developments
Be inspired, be curious, ask questions and think critically
Recognise similarities and differences between periods of time and to see how the past has shaped the present
Analyse sources of evidence, developing their historical knowledge and skills and to piece together the information to understand the past.
Develop an understanding of chronology, and to see the ‘big picture’, allowing them to make connections between different periods of the past and the present

We will do this by:

We aim to foster a strong sense of chronology within our children, teaching them how to place people, events or eras on to a historical timeline. Time related vocabulary is used within all of our history teaching from Reception to Year Six to enable our children to speak with confidence when comparing time periods, vocabulary increasing with complexity as children move up through the school.

Pathfinders – Fit people and events into a chronological framework. Learning will focus on people that have lived and events which have occurred mainly withing the last 200 years. This helps our children to begin to understand chronology because of the limited time span. The historical content often links to children’s everyday experiences (e.g. inventions such as the ~TV), thus making learning more concrete and less abstract, so that children can begin to make sense of their changing world.

Adventurers – children begin to learn about more specific time periods of history, and to develop the narrative within these periods.

Navigators – make connections between periods of history. As children’s knowledge builds and children begin to make connections between events and time periods, for example exploring the connections between leadership between Roman Emperors (“You’re not invited”) and World Leaders (“Wars of the World”).

To achieve these aims we will:

Ensure coverage is cross checked between the Dimensions “leaning means the world” curriculum against the National Curriculum. Gaps identified are taught through ‘competency units’, which are part of our long term plans.

Use Skills Ladders to demonstrate an incremental model for the acquisition of skills, providing a benchmark for each year group and modelling the progression throughout the school. The increasing complexity of the skills should ensure children make good progress.

Use Knowledge Building Pillars are our robust model for the progression of knowledge and understanding in history. Children are supported and challenged to learn and compare knowledge across different historical contexts.

Assessment

Tracking children’s progress throughout their school life is vital in order to establish their acquisition of knowledge. At West Boldon Primary School, learning always starts with the children’s prior knowledge and any misconceptions they may have. This can be undertaken in several different ways; teachers decide upon the most appropriate, age-related way of obtaining the children’s prior knowledge. Misconceptions that arise throughout the unit are identified and addressed appropriately. We use Kahoot quizzes as a low stakes’ method of checking children’s recall. These assessments are revisited throughout the year so that knowledge is embedding into long term memory.

History Assemblies – A Journey Through Time

On July 3rd 2025, our children were taken on a fascinating journey through the history of our local area during a special assembly. They discovered some incredible inventions made right on our doorstep – including the pioneering work of Joseph Swan and George Stephenson!

We then explored the history of our own school site – did you know that before West Boldon Primary was built, it was just open fields with a burn running through it? The school first opened as West Boldon County Junior Mixed School on 3rd October 1963, officially opened by Alderman J. Lynch B.E.M.

The children were captivated by an original commemorative pamphlet and old photographs showing classrooms and the school hall from many years ago.

Do you remember West Boldon School back in the day? We’d love for you to share your memories with your children and bring the past to life at home.