History

History is a subject which arouses children's curiosity, presents challenges and stimulates imagination.  At Barrow Hall, History is not just about learning facts and dates, but learning about what it was like to live in times gone by. When teaching history we aim to pass on knowledge and to develop skills and understanding by making history as practical and "hands-on" as possible. 

We achieve this by including experiences of the children's own families. e.g. family members talking about what it was like in their childhood;  children bringing in parents and grandparents toys; looking at family photographs and diaries from war times.  We also use history from our local area, there is so much to explore right on our own doorstep!

There are numerous cross-curriculum links with other subjects e.g. literacy, geography and science.  Through history children develop skills of observing; enquiry; hypothesising; communicating; recording; interpreting; and formulating relevant questions. All important skills used in many subjects and essential for life in general.

At Barrow Hall we use a variety of resources to arouse interest and stimulate the children's imagination and enquiry.  Children examine artefacts, giving them the opportunity to use lots of their senses. They enjoy looking at old photographs and pictures.  They love to make replicas of artefacts from history e.g. an Egyptian tomb, and of course they love to dress up and role-play people from different periods of history. 

One of the children's favourites - visits to other places and museums -  about how living a day as a child would be in World War II. 

Teaching in this way helps history to become a subject that the children want to learn about and enjoy.