History
“On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born.”
Alfred de Vigny
Curriculum intent |
We believe that the purpose of a history curriculum is to provide students with an academically rigorous and fulfilling experience of studying the past, exposing them to a wealth of cultural capital to which they are entitled. By building knowledge of key events and developments in British and world history we empower students to understand the world around them and help them develop into thoughtful, responsible, and active citizens. |
Powerful knowledge in History |
History is a subject that teaches students about how the world that we live in today has been developed and created over time. Our students learn to ask enquiry questions and create supported judgements about key events in our past thorough a wide range of activities including source analysis, inferences and comparisons. The study of history allows students to develop their critical thinking and ability to present opinions which are backed up with factual evidence from the past. It enables students to sympathise and be empathetic towards issues of the past by considering those who would have live through it, as well as enabling them to make links between the world we live in today, and what has come before us. Knowing how we have come to the world we live in now is vital to understanding everyday life and even more important for thinking about where we want the world to go in the future. |
Curriculum Features |
At Key Stage 3, students will explore a range of historical topics in chronological order, which include elements of British history as well as wider world history. Lessons will comprise of a mixture of discussion, quizzing, extended personal responses as well as exposure to and analysis of historical sources and interpretations to the enquiry question posed. At Key Stage 4, students who opt for GCSE History will follow the Edexcel exam board and will study four units: Medicine Through Time, the American West, Henry VIII and his Ministers and Weimar and Nazi Germany. This allows students to develop their understanding of some of the topics at Key Stage 3 in more detail, whilst delving into a range of different time periods, styles of history and further embedding the skills they have been acquiring since Year 7. |
Curriculum Enrichment |
As part of our extra-curricular provision Key Stage 3, students can choose to attend ‘History on Screen’, where we will discuss the portrayal of historical events through the medium of film and documentary. We also offer one school trip a year at Key Stage 3, which links into a topic that they have or will be studying in the relevant year. As part of the Key Stage 4 History course, we offer one trip abroad on alternative years which is the GCSE History Battlefields Tour and is only available to our GCSE students. All students, regardless of key stage, can also attend the Auschwitz Tour every other year. There is also the opportunity for Key Stage 4 to attend the Humanities Hub once a week for additional support or to spend the time on revision for a Humanities subject. |