Our vision for history is to provide all children with a high quality and rich history curriculum that promotes a curiosity of the past and ensures children acquire historical knowledge and skills.

“Raising aspirations” is embedded into all aspects of school life and learning at Minet Infant and Nursery School. The school’s history curriculum plays a vital role in this by encouraging children to aim high and fulfil their potential. As a result, history is an important part of the school’s rich, broad and balanced curriculum. We aim to provide all children with a coherently sequenced history curriculum and high-quality history related learning from the very beginning of their school journey in order to  promote their curiosity of the past and to help them acquire knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Our history curriculum is embedded from the Early Years, in which children gain a sense of the world around them to thinking critically and asking questions by the end of KS1. Furthermore, we aim for our school values of respect, responsibility and resilience to be entrenched in our history curriculum. These values are explored in the children’s learning of a range of past events and how we can achieve a brighter future.

In Early Years, children engage in a range of personal experiences that increase their knowledge and sense of world around them, from visiting educational venues such as museums to meeting important members of society. Cross-curricular learning is entwined into our history curriculum, for example, listening to a range of stories and non-fiction books that explore our diverse world. Child- initiated play learning is at the core of early years and we therefore aim to provide children with high quality provision that enables them to put their knowledge and experiences into play. This enriched learning develops children’s vocabulary that will support later learning.  

By the end of KS1, our curriculum ensures children build on their experiences, knowledge and vocabulary from the Early Years. Children develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They begin to understand where people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. Children also begin thinking critically enabling them to comment on past events, make judgements and ask questions helping them on their journey to becoming historians.

2023-2024

Nursery

Nursery children observed Remembrance Day- 11/11/23 by painting poppies as a mark of respect for the fallen soldiers of WW1 and WW2.

Nursery learnt about themselves, where they live and the special people in their lives. Children used resources to build houses and talked about who lives in their house.

Reception

Reception children learnt about technology from the past and compared it to modern technology. They explored the photographs of old telephones, computers, type writers and discussed what has changed.

2022-2023

Toys from the past workshop

In the Autumn term, Year One were learning about toys from the past. Children were identifying differences and making comparisons with the toys loved by children decades ago and in the present day.

On the 2^nd December 2022, Chertsey Museum visited the school with boxes of real and replica toys from the past. Year One children had the opportunity to handle and play with the toys. The Museum staff explained the names of unfamiliar toys, the different materials used to make the toys and the era in which the toys were produced.

The children thoroughly enjoyed stepping back in time for the day.