In the History department we aim to develop a love of our subject. Learning about the past is an enjoyable and interesting experience. History teaches critical analysis, how to evaluate, to make moral judgements and to research topics. These skills are essential for many careers including law, journalism and the media, education and management.

Our pupils look at the impact of world changing events on people's lives. Pupils are asked to reflect upon the different values and political ideologies of other societies and their impact on other people. They have the opportunity to develop their own ideas on these issues and discuss their views.

Students are asked to examine the past to help them engage with the present.

Key Stage Three

History is taught in mixed ability groups in Year 7 and then taught in Sets Years 8 and 9. The National Curriculum units taught are as follows:

Year 7:

• The Roman Empire
• Medieval Monarchs,
• Medieval Life with an in-depth study on Medieval York

Year 8:

• Tudors and Stuarts,
• Industrialisation with a local study on child labour 
• Islamic Empire

Year 9:

• The British Empire,
• Twentieth Century world with a depth study on WW1

Fieldwork

As part of our departments aim to bring History to life and develop cross curricular links with other departments we run two field work trips in KS3.

Year 7 - York trip

Working alongside the Geography, R.E and Maths the whole of Year 7 visit York to discover what life was like in a medieval city and how it protected itself from attack.

Year 8 - Quarry Bank Mill

Working alongside the Design and Technology Department the whole of Year 8 visit Styal Mill to discover what life would have been like for a child apprentice in the 1840s.

Key Stage 4

We follow the AQA exam board Modern World History Specification B syllabus. The department also offers short course History alongside short course Citizenship run by Mr West.

Coursework

GCSE coursework is worth 25% of the final grade and all pupils produce five pieces of work. Three pieces of work are based on D Day, Saving Private Ryan and the Defeat of Germany. Two pieces of work are based on Britain and the Home Front in WW2

Useful websites

http://www.aqa.org.uk/

http://www.johndclare.net/

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/bitesize

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/