Field Notes

Field work evidence was collected over seven days in the school, excluding extra visits to attend staff meeting and arrange visits, and encompassed data from a variety of sources including conversations around lesson observations, photographs and general observations (as opposed to specific lesson observations). In many respects the field work carried out provided useful and insightful information (refer to matrix below for a summary of the visits and data collected).

The first full day in school, in December 2011, incorporated general observations of the upper junior classes. It quickly became apparent that in addition to lengthy history topics based on units such as world history topic on the Ancient Egyptians there had been several shorter, ‘mini-topics’ including a celebration of the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, that contained many powerful cross-curricular links. Both the Storming the Castle and Titanic mini-topics had been closely linked to DT and model building (see photographs overleaf), while other strong cross-curricular work linked history, literacy and music in an adapted performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A mid- summer night’s dream’.

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Examples of DT and History as part of Mini-Topic Work

150 | P a g e Above all, ‘History day’, in January 2012, demonstrated the strength of history leadership within the school; it had very much been the vision of the history coordinator LM, and the commitment to history demonstrated by every teacher and pupil. Almost everyone had dressed up, followed by a whole school human timeline, and culminated in a celebratory lunch that involved converting the dining hall into a medieval banquet. All classes gave a demonstration of the history topics they had been working on, and in the afternoon this included many cross-curricular links including story writing (literacy), art work, model demonstrations (DT), and it culminated with a performance by the upper juniors for the whole school.

The invitation to attend two school outings linked to history topics was arguably greater evidence for the general commitment to active and experiential approaches to history pedagogy than evidence of cross-curricular links, but the visits did in fact demonstrate some links between history, geography and science (year 3 ‘Over and Under’ theme), and history and literacy (Lewis Carroll and eminent Victorians). As noted with the lesson observations, the links that were made were often very equal, even if the overall topic was based on a history unit, thus demonstrating careful judgement and discipline around subject domains.

Meetings with SC to discuss planning, pedagogical approaches and work outcomes demonstrated the creativity of some of the teaching approaches, as well as very thorough planning (in contrast to KG). The year 2 topic on the ‘Great fire of London’ included experimental approaches that culminated in a model burning exercise to demonstrate the efficacy of fire breaks. The following year, on this occasion covering the European unit on the ‘Ancient Greece’ in year 3, SC developed children’s historical reasoning skills, combined with an understanding of the nature of some historical reasoning, by burying their models of Greek vases and pots and then getting them to dig them up to replicate the work of archaeologists. Clearly this was a link with DT, but more importantly SC claimed many of the children began to develop an understanding

151 | P a g e of how historians used their imagination to fill in the gaps where evidence, in this case pottery fragments, was incomplete. The following photographs were taken by SC:

152 | P a g e Overall the field data demonstrated powerful and disciplined links between history, literacy, DT, art, geography, RE and music. Intriguingly there were also some good examples of links with mathematics too, not least displays of data handling charts similar to those suggested by Griffin and Eddershaw (1994: 33-4), connected to the Titanic mini topic that examined the correlation between social class and survival rates, which included impressive attempts to explain this phenomenon.

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Case-study 2 Field-Notes Matrix

Field Notes Case-Study 2 FN1 Years 5/6 09/12/11 FN2 Whole School 30/01/12 FN3 SC Year 2 15/03/12 FN4 KG Year 3 01/05/12 FN5 JF Year 2 17/05/12 FN6 KG Year 3 23/05/12 FN7 SC Year 3 01/07/13 Context Year 6 Egyptians

topic just completed that term

Year 5 – Britain since the 1930s

Plus 4 mini themes: Titanic (100 year centenary) Escape to Victory Midsummer Night’s Dream

Storming the Castle

History Day Every member of the school dressed up as a historical character Special medieval banquet at lunch including commemorative spoon

Great Fire of London 4 week topic based on QCA plans (Curriculum 2000 suggestion for KS1 historical event Discussion of planning, documentation and Cross-curricular links

Over and Under Theme

Victorians

Visit to Christchurch college, Oxford

Over and Under theme Visit to Edgerock (pseudonym) Nature Reserve Ancient Greeks Discussion of planning, documentation and Cross-curricular links

Concept Codes Chronology – several class timelines History – events (Tutankhamen’s tomb discovery) and people (Howard Carter), chronology in biographies and artefacts

Enquiry – each class produced a list of questions for a shared display Content - each class made a brief presentation based on their history work Interpretation and reasoning – Greek vases with bits missing to explain how historians used reasoning to fill the gaps Chronology – whole school participated in a timeline in the playground Afternoon - school watched performance based on Shakespeare Chronology - Timelines (taken from a commercial scheme called ‘Sparklebox’ Evidence - Visit to Reading Museum Experimental approach linked to enquiry – made models, then set fire to them to test fire- break theory Reasoning - in the form of comparison & Historical imagination linked to literacy outcomes

Interpretation - less evident (e.g. different eye witness accounts) Evidence – focus on evidence and historical skills as part of enquiry approach Evidence – visits to local church (where some eminent people are buried)

Local nature reserve linked to famous author

Enquiry – Question and Answer

Evidence – all around them

Content – a lot of information was conveyed by the guides during the visit Imagination – making the gulf between now and the time when Lewis Carroll working and writing

Evidence – Road names on the walk to reserve

Analytical skills Observational skills & evidence from buildings and place names Chronology – many references to class timeline Evidence – visit to Ashmolean museum – handled some original artefacts Chronology – class timeline and individual timelines High levels of interpretation and criticality – e.g. digging up pottery to replicate work of archaeology Many enquiry approaches – questions they set themselves at the start of the topic and returned to at end

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and Memos

From initial analysis, this is the case of a history topic being used as a foundation for cc work, and therefore not tagged onto a general theme or topic

So, CC, creativity, topic based, but based around history rather than fitting into broader topics. Answered one of the questions about the efficacy of history based topics, and whether schools will reflect the integrity of history Impressed with activities linked to chronology and enquiry Less evidence of interpretation Clear CC links in every year group Creative, inspiring and meaningful CC links

Commitment and enthusiasm from the whole school Excellent subject leadership Support of school leaders Evidence of research and enquiry Focus on chronology Meaningful CC links Links to many subjects – and unforced

High quality of work outcomes

Imaginative teaching and learning approaches

History only one strand of this topic / theme a

Commitment to enquiry and evidence Outdoor and active learning

Experiential learning

Authority of expert witness (of the guides) – opposed to criticality

Ambience Sense of place Immersion

Sitting in the visitors room, listening to carols being sung, and looking at images of the College and Carroll was a powerful experience

KG acknowledged history and geography could not be separated on this topic – strong historical element in local geography Synoptic learning, since this clearly build upon much previous work (e.g. observation 4), both processes and knowledge Evidence of disciplined historical reasoning and imagination SC – many history topics this year Many links with story telling

Inspired idea to bury their pottery in sandpit. Children asked probing questions about work of archaeologists and nature of missing evidence ‘How do we learn about the past?’

Second-Cycle Codes

Powerful mini- topics

Pace and purpose Creative approach Meaningful CC links Inspired Inspiring Total Commitment Visionary leadership Memorable experiences Confidence to take risks Experimental Visionary Creative Meaningful links Active Empirical learning Strong sense of evocation Expert witness Authority Passivity Transformative Evidence based Authoritative Synoptic Historical Processes Balance: History = Geography Inspired Creative Risk taking High Levels of historical reasoning and understanding including imagination Cross-Curricular Links Literacy – structure and drama; lots of writing, letters & brochures ICT-Publisher used to create brochures DT -Models of pyramids Geography - map work Mathematics – data handling linked to Titanic passengers and casualties

Geog. – map work based on each year group’s topic Literacy – scripts and drama activities Science – discoveries made in Greek times Music – part of some performances DT – many examples of model making E.g. Tudor models of ballistae and catapults trying to breech model castles

Literacy – diary writing

Eye witness accounts Geography – mapping work ICT – research Art – collage Mathematics – nets linked to model- making DT – models of houses

Virtually all other subjects linked to this theme, but especially Geography as equal part of Local Study unit

ICT through PP slides

Strong links to literacy – not only the history of

Dodgson/Carroll, but also readings from Alice in Wonderland Literacy = History

Clear links with science and geography through geology (Jurassic rocks 100 million years old) and fossilised coral reef

Literacy – many writing outcomes based on Ancient Greeks Poetry writing DT model making RE – concept of Underworld Art – Minotaur pictures Geography – map work linked with Greece Mathematics - Tessellation

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