Aim

• The History curriculum is relevant to our diverse range of students and provides opportunities to enhance their access to cultural capital so that all students can join in the conversation
• Students should be able to ‘see themselves’ in the curriculum, while also building their knowledge and understanding of a diverse past that takes them into the unfamiliar
• We aim to develop curious historians who are increasingly able to work independently to critically think about the past in order to develop a better understanding of the present
• To enable this, students study a knowledge-rich curriculum which includes a range of breadth and depth enquiries from local, national and global perspectives
• Enquiries are challenging and rooted in academic historical scholarship, with the role of the historian at the centre of the student’s learning
• To make this happen, all staff are engaged with contemporary debates in the professional community and keep up to date with a range of scholarly reading
• A process of reflection underpins everything that we do. Our curriculum is constantly under evaluation and is never complete

Topics covered

• How does Peter Frankopan know about the Silk Roads?
• Did the Normans bring a 'truckload' of trouble?
• What do the Plantagenets reveal about power in the Medieval Ages?
• Was the period of the Crusades a time of continuous conflict between Muslims and Christians?
• What difference did the Black Death really make?
• What does the life of Mansa Musa reveal about Medieval Mali?
• Why was the Church so important in the Early Modern period?
• What mattered to the Mughals?
• What does the confinement of Mary Queen of Scots reveal about power, religion and culture?
• Why did Europe see England as 'Devil-Land' during the reign of the Stuarts?

Teaching groups

Students are taught in form groups twice per week.

Assessment

Students are assessed in a range of ways in lessons and at the end of each enquiry, including extended writing and other types of response to our six underpinning curricular questions:

1. How was the world connected?
2. What mattered to people?
3. How were people ruled?
4. How do historians construct interpretations?
5. How do historians analyse sources?
6. How do historians communicate their ideas?

There are five summative assessments from Year 7 to Year 9. These measure progress by testing knowledge from all enquiries studied to that point.

How to support at home

• Encourage children to immerse themselves in the time periods studied by reading, listening to or watching related materials
• Participate in discussions with your child about historical or political issues in the news and media
• Encourage children to ask questions about the world around them
• Encourage children to read books that are related to the enquiries we study in lessons

For further information

Our curriculum is based on the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum. It is also heavily influenced by the principles of best practice endorsed by The Historical Association and The Schools History Project.

For further information on the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum, click here.