Subject vision:

History at Cooper and Jordan is opportunity to time travel: visiting Ancient civilisations, Britain's prehistory and the fascinating history of our locality. Aldridge has an amazing past filled with rich stories and characters and is a golden thread which runs through our curriculum. Our curriculum is designed so that children build an appreciation of where they live  and whether we are tracing the story of our Victoria Cross recipient, learning about the Aldridge Suffragette or visiting our listed buildings, Aldridge contains a cornucopia of tangible evidence about its past. 

We also aim for our History curriculum  to ignite children’s curiosity of the past and provoke questions about culture, society, historical figures and religion. The teaching and learning of History at Cooper and Jordan combines a knowledge-rich curriculum with the skills needed to interpret the past. Children are encouraged to look at History through the key areas of cause and  consequence; similarity and difference; historical significance; historical interpretation; change and continuity; and sources and evidence.  Rising Stars forms the spine of our curriculum which is based around a series of enquiry questions to build a picture of the past. Our staff adapt as necessary to ensure lessons inspire children and make learning fun. Lessons are rich in primary sources (e.g. pictures, texts, original videos, visitors and audio) are used to bring the past to life and give pupils the cultural capital they need to appreciate the wealth of history around them.  We use an adaptive teaching  approach to planning so that we can maximize the outcomes for every child. Our curriculum is structured to make links between current and previous learning both within British History and the wider World to allow pupils to build chronology. Pupils reflect on their learning through questions posed on the knowledge organisers and self assessment and this can be seen through the use of purple pen in their History books

Assessment:

Lessons are assessed against key questions and self assessments sheets are completed at the start and end of a unit by pupils allowing them to reflect on what they have learnt. Children also answer an umbrella enquiry question on their knowledge organisers. Formative assessment through marking informs staff of pupils’ understanding and this is extended or consolidated where necessary by gap tasks. Pupil voice also informs staff and the coordinator about pupil engagement and allows staff to reflect on teaching and learning and adapt where necessary to differing cohorts.

Trips and enrichment:

Britain is a country with a rich history, and we are fortunate to be able to plan visits to enrich the curriculum. In addition, visitors are regularly invited in school to deliver workshops and enrich learning. Our pupils all dress up for the event and it's not unusual to walk into a classroom and be met by an army of Roman soldiers or a Mayan priest! Throughout the year, pupils study and celebrate key historical events such as Black History Month and Festival of Remembrance which is held annually at our Cenotaph.

Pupil Voice: 

Felicity said "I enjoy finding out about things used to be a long time ago."

Jay said "I really liked finding out about the Great Fire of London and our trip to Blakesley Hall was amazing!"

Connie said "I like finding out about the past, the stone age is really different to how we live now, I don't know how I would have coped!"

Noah said "I really like learning about the past, learning about previous kings and queens was really interesting."

Fin said "History at C&J is fun because we get to learn about ancient civilisation and ancient languages, like Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

Shay said "We learn about the past and how interesting and difficult life must have been for people a long time ago."