It is the aim within our History department that all our students can achieve, succeed and have the ability to reach their full potential, whatever their circumstances, background and starting point. It is fundamental therefore that our students can understand the key reasons as to why History is important and the values it carries today. Students in History are also empowered to be professional learners. This is done by encouraging our students to critically examine a wide range of sources and events, exploring the causes and consequences and analysing their significance within the local, national and wider world contexts. In History, our students are encouraged to not only think like a historian but to write like one too. Therefore, our curriculum is built to ensure that students constantly develop and apply their literacy skills; whether that be in their reading of sources or the use of ambitious vocabulary in their writing. Similarly, students get the opportunity to develop their numerical skills through the use of chronology and the understanding of time and events.

Our students receive a breadth of engaging, challenging and powerful knowledge-rich lessons which not only allows them to gaze into the mirrors of our past in Britain but also allows them to gaze out into the windows of other cultures and their histories. To this end, our students should have an appreciation of the past that is not just a story but an event that could have happened to us, which in doing so allows them to not only empathise with others in order to understand our place in the world but to create a love of lifelong learning and curiosity.

Our curriculum is chronologically ordered, with deep focus points in history being studied, whether that be the invasion of the Normans in 1066, the Tudors and the Reformation, or the Cold War and the shaping of the 21st century. This allows our students to gain a strong insight of time and a firm grasp of concepts along with the knowledge and subject skills to continuously question history throughout higher and further education.

Knowledge and skills:

Through our curriculum, students:

• Develop secure knowledge and understanding of local, British and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study (as detailed below):
  • They must know the changes and key features that shaped the British Isles, allowing for the Roman and Norman Conquest as well as the birth f law and democracy. Students start their learning by studying major changes from the Stone Age to the Iron Age as well as the Norman Conquest of 1066.
  • Within Medieval History, they will know what key features to expect of a Medieval society. They will know some medieval societies, across a breadth of countries, as well as differences between them and explain how these societies again allowed for further change.
  • Within Modern History, they will know what key features to expect of a Modern society? Students must have knowledge of some Modern societies, as well as differences between them. Aspects of American history, German history and British history will be rooted within this and themes of power and democracy will run throughout.
  • Within British History, they will know and explore the themes of democracy, empire and change and the effect of these within the isles.
• Regularly address and devise historically valid questions about change and continuity as well as cause and effect.
• Construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information using a wide range of sources.
• Will, over the course of the curriculum, deepen and extend a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of local, British and world history, so that it provides a well-informed context for wider learning
• Identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends within periods and over long arcs of time
• Use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways.
• Understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and determine how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• Demonstrate their breadth of historical knowledge and understanding by making links and drawing comparisons between different aspects of the period, society or themes studied
• Analyse and evaluate the causes and consequences of historical events and situations, as well as demonstrating their ability to analyse changes over time
• Develop skills in History using ‘enquiry questions’ focused on skills and process used to undertake historical enquiries: posing questions, explaining significance and change, extracting evidence, developing and reaching judgements, reporting conclusions)
  • These aid the development of historical understanding of concepts and the historical processes underpinning them, which provide our students with the tools for learning history and for thinking historically. 
  • These replicate the challenging role faced by historians and allows them to piece together different concepts and explore how different topics interact with each other, allowing more accurate understanding of the narrative and its impact.