A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
An understanding of History at local, national and world level, will also help them develop their own identities. By engaging with the past, they are better able to ask and answer questions of the present. We aim to fire students’ curiosity and imagination, showing them the dilemmas, choices and beliefs of people in the past.
Key stage 3
What we study:
Year 7 - Topics: 1066 - 1500 (Life in the Middle Ages). The Norman Conquest. The Crusades. The Black Death. Local History site case study. Non-European civilisations. The Wars of the Roses. The Murder of Thomas Becket.
Year 8 - Time: The Tudors. The Early British Empire. The Industrial Revolution. The Napoleonic and English Civil War. Local historical study - Who is remembered in the town church? When did life really improve for ordinary people?
Year 9 – Topics: Technology, War, and Independence 1901 to the Present Day. How Britain and the World has changed since 1901. Why the Titanic was so famous and who and what was to blame for the disaster. Suffragettes and Emily Davison. The Great War. Britain in the First and Second World wars. Debate whether they felt the Great War was worth winning and learn about Independence in Ireland. Britain during the 1930’s and what life was like abroad between the Wars. Fascism, Communism, and Hitler’s Dictatorship and the Second World War.
How we study:
Two lessons per week.
Focus on activities that engage and challenge students e.g. mindmaps, living graphs, solo-hexagons, tarsias, mysteries etc. Emphasis on promoting the use of independent study skills, external guest speakers and local site visits.
Key stage 4
Studying History allows students to develop their ability to analyse things, construct arguments, problem solve and communicate their ideas effectively – all skills that are highly regarded by employers and are invaluable in the studying of many other subjects.
Course Content:
Health and the People- c1000 to present. Elizabethan England c1568 - 1603. The Inter-war Years- 1918-39. America Opportunity & Equality 1920-73
How we study:
In Yr. 10 & 11 we have three lessons per week. Lessons are heavily orientated towards teaching the content and exam techniques required for the GCSE History AQA 8145 spec. Every effort is made to make lessons engaging, challenging and enjoyable for students with an emphasis on students assisting their own learning through independent study.