HISTORY
Teaching Staff
- Miss Depper - Head of History
- Mr Birley
- Mrs Lincoln
- Mr Peacham
- Miss White
- Ms Woolnough
Aims
KS3
Our KS3 topics are wide and diverse. The pupils learn a mix of knowledge and historical skills. In Year 7 we make sure all pupils quickly have the same key skills to move them forward in History such as the use of chronology, time periods and the importance of interpretations. Then they study the foundations of British History looking at many key concepts such as causation, significance, consequence as well as learning to explain clearly using detailed knowledge and understanding.
As we go into Year 8 pupils feel confident in asking perceptive questions and really understand the complexity of history. They study the transition between monarchical power and parliamentary authority, by studying the slave trade pupils are challenged to understand how the development of a trade and the development of economic wealth can raise huge questions around morality and injustice. In parallel, the development of industrial Britain and the British Empire raises similar questions and deepens students understanding of how international trade created such dilemmas between wealth and social justice. As pupils study World War One the size and scale of the conflict is explored, in terms of human life, but also its impact on civilians, the pervasiveness of government control, the economic cost and extent women’s roles changed.
In Year 9 pupils look at the difficulties of keeping international peace, starting with the failure of the Treaty of Versailles and they will follow by looking at the way the war impacted countries politically, economically, socially, and ideologically in the 1920s and early 1930s culminating in the outbreak of World War Two in 1939. Pupils will be able to see how war changed to affect civilians just as much as soldiers by looking at events such as the Blitz and Stalingrad. Students will also complete a study of the Holocaust by understanding how Nazi anti-Semitic attitudes spiralled from ideology to genocide. Then go on to appreciate the fighting for Civil rights in America.
History teaches a range of important skills including chronology, causation, significance, interpretations, connections, continuity, similarities and difference. The curriculum is designed to develop knowledge and understanding of key British History, Local History and the wider world and follow the National Curriculum requirements combining overview and depth studies. The subject develops literacy skills including reading, comprehension, keywords/terms, writing in clear paragraphs and essay writing as well as Numeracy skills of using of pie charts, bar graphs, statistics. It develops SMSC introducing key learning such as the importance of King, state, church, democracy and dictatorship, female suffrage, differences of the lives of rich and poor, slavery, racism, women’s position in society, empathy for other people’s lives.
KS4
The pupils learn a mix of knowledge and historical skills. Medicine Through Time is a themed unit that gets pupils to learn about all time periods to the present day, so they gain knowledge and understanding of the time period and what happens in medicine. Both the courses about Germany and Superpowers look at the changes and connections between European and World events in the 20th Century. The American West course provides pupils with a cultural diverse topic which includes issues of genocide and the behaviour of people towards each other. Elizabeth England gives pupils an in-depth look at life at an exciting time in British History, which has also shaped the countries future. The course itself gives pupil the opportunities to understanding the past in order to understand the present. There is endless learning of, the world, cultures, society and ultimately making better rounded humans. History gives them a GCSE which is well placed in the world of work, a GCSE which is valued by employers due to the wide range of skills it requires; explanation, analysis, debating, research, deduction, questioning, using evidence, critical thinking, giving pupils the ability to make reasoned judgements and use written communication well.
Qualifications
- GCSE History
Please see below the Curriculum Maps for a breakdown of what is taught in each year group and by term: