Curriculum Intent and Rationale
The intent of the History curriculum is to engage and enthuse students with a curiosity and knowledge about the past, whilst also reflecting on the key events of today. The change and continuity of British and International History creates a pattern of influencing our present lives, shaping many of the key debates that we engage in today. As we are growing as globalised society, as well as being members of a diverse community, it is important that we cover a range of histories from around the world, to reflect our growing multi-national and multi-ethnic community. By creating active scholars, we hope to enable students to infer, analyse and evaluate knowledge of past events in a sensitive and informed manner.
Skills are a key focus of History, especially those used beyond the school environment. Students will learn to critically assess and evaluate evidence, both primary and secondary, combining with their knowledge to make judgement on their value to historians and reliability. Students will look to use evidence to scaffold and develop opinions on a wide range of issues, as well as growing their explanations, both verbally and in written form. Looking at the bigger picture, they will look to compare and contrast different time periods, including the present.
As a traditional academic subject, History is widely respected and is often seen as a key indicator in regards to university courses and future career prospects. This can be seen in not just History-related courses but also Politics, Law, the Civil Service, the Media, Business and Administration, Finance, Computing, Education and Medicine.
Implementing our curriculum
Key Stage 3
The focus of Key Stage 3 is to build the scholarship that is required as the bedrock of historical study, in a manner that enthuses and raises curiosity about events that are relevant to our community.
By analysing different periods and countries, students are able to demonstrate understanding by comparing and contrasting, making judgement on the level of change that has affected our society. Students will engage with the development of Britain up to the present day, whilst also analysing this within the framework of knowledge of the wider world. This will be followed by looking at the challenges to British and International power in the 20th Century.
Students will engage with key conceptual ideas such as ‘Revolution’, ‘Empire’ and ‘Society’ and be able to evaluate these across a range of periods. Within this they will demonstrate clear chronological awareness and be able to organise key periods and events.
Key Stage 4
Specification: OCR A (Explaining the Modern World)
Key Stage 4 builds upon the skills developed in Key Stage 3, following the OCR Explaining the Modern World A curriculum. As well as preparing students for the rigours of public examinations, students will continue to explore key issues for discussion and debate such as Nazi Germany and the development of the Cold War. Students will look to use their knowledge to evaluate the significance of events as analysing why historians have different views on issues, such as Appeasement, looking to challenge the historiography.
Key Stage 5
Specification: AQA
At A Level, students undertake the AQA specification, focusing on Tsarist and Communist Russia as well as the Making of Modern Britain from 1951 to 2007. Students will develop their skills as active scholars, focusing their research and reading to develop their own notes and knowledge. They will use knowledge and evidence to formulate essays that critically assess topics and support a substantiated judgement. They will consider historiography and continue to challenge historians’ viewpoints, whilst analysing the value of primary sources to us as historians. Students will also develop their independent organisational skills in the completion of their NEA assessments. A level History provides the foundations for many of our students to undertake undergraduate study in History and beyond.