History
Curriculum intent statement
- To study pivotal historical events, people and themes in order to understand how societies change over time, while developing the knowledge, curiosity and skills of historical enquiry, analysis and interpretation that enable students to understand the past and shape the future.
Why is History important?
Learning about History can be a passport to understanding our nation’s cultural capital – why Shakespeare wrote the plays he did, why we uphold justice, why we have become such multicultural society since WWII. Studying History helps us to understand who we are and what we value.
Our aim for our students is to SUCCEED:
Skills: Help students gain and develop the intellectual skills needed to think independently, write analytically, challenge convention and decide for themselves.
Understanding: promote understanding of key historic events and gain perspective on the world’s current challenges and issues through the lens of the past.
Curiosity: teaching pupils to frame the questions needed for their investigations and to inspire an interest and excitement in the events and people who have shaped our world
Challenge: History at Sexey’s is challenging and engaging at all levels and we strive for excellence from Year 7 to Year 13
Exploration: Experiencing history through a variety of media in and outside of the classroom
Excellence: Give our students the support and self- belief to persevere and aim high
Diversity: Improve the understanding of other cultures, values and ideas in order to help celebrate and understand our multicultural society and our shared experience
Benefits of studying History beyond school:
- Excellent preparation for the skills you will need in adult life: the ability to argue your case convincingly when seeking promotion, to write analytically and intelligently when assessing which project should be pursued, to think for yourself based on reason not emotion.
- Opens up a wide range of career opportunities in various fields: politics, law, diplomacy, forensic science, teaching, journalism.
- Great preparation for independent thinking required for Higher Education.
Subject Overview/Curriculum Policy
The KS3 curriculum follows the National Curriculum for History. There is a strong focus on SMSC topics covering issues such as rights & responsibility, discrimination and persecution, religious practice and intolerance as well as ensuring the landmark events of British History are explored. We believe that understanding some of the key events in our shared past are important aspects for building up the cultural capital available to our students.
Sexeys Seven: We take all opportunities to promote the Sexey’s Seven approach to British Values: COURAGE / FORGIVENESS / HONESTY / KINDNESS /RESPECT/ EMPATHY RESILIENCE – but in particular foster the understanding of empathy, for example by discussing experiences of Empire / slavery/ warfare/persecution as well as understanding the perspectives of the rulers and the ruled
We strongly believe in a sequencing curriculum and that you start building for GCSE and A level in Yr 7. We ensure that historical second order concepts are familiar and are taught from the start, albeit with considerable scaffolding, support and age appropriate expectations.
Key Stage 3 curriculum plan
Year 7
Enquiry 1: How did life and society develop in early England?
Enquiry 2: Did William the Conqueror win due to luck or tactics?
Enquiry 3: How well did William control of England?
Enquiry 4: How hard was life in the Middle Ages?
Enquiry 5: How did the power of the Monarch change during the Middle Ages?
Enquiry 6: How did the Tudors change England?
Year 8
Enquiry 1- Was the English Civil War pointless?
Enquiry 2: Should Britain apologise for its Empire?
Enquiry 3: How did the Industrial Revolution change England?
Enquiry 4: How did power in the UK develop in the 19th and 20th centuries?
Enquiry 5: How accepting of diversity was Britain in the 20th century?
Year 9
Enquiry 1: Why did millions of men fight — and die — for so little ground?
Enquiry 2: Did the rise of Dictatorships in Europe lead to WW2?
Enquiry 3: Why and how were Jews and other minorities persecuted in Nazi Germany?
Enquiry 4: How did events of the early C20th shape the world now?
Enquiry 5: What was medicine like in Medieval Britain?
Key Stage 4 curriculum plan
GCSE Specification Overview: AQA 8145 combination code HC
Component 1: Modern World History – section A/B: Germany Section B/C Origins of the Cold War 1945-1972
Component 2: British History – Section A/A Health and the People (medicine) and Section B/C Elizabethan England 1568-1603
Key Stage 5 curriculum plan:
A Level: Cambridge OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in History A H505
Unit 1 (taught in year 12) British period study and enquiry: England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII.
50 marks, 1 hour 30 minute paper, 25% of total A level
Unit 2 (taught in year 12) Non-British period study: Democracy and Dictatorship in Germany 1919-1963.
30 marks, 1 hour paper, 15% of total A level
Unit 3 (taught in year 13) Thematic study and historical interpretations: Russia and it’s Rulers 1865-1964
80 marks, 2 hour 30 minute paper, 40% of total A level
Topic based essay – Coursework (taught and written in year 13): Causes of World War One
3000–4000 word essay, Non exam assessment worth 40 marks, 20% of total A level