History
Curriculum Aims
The History programme of study facilitates a better understanding and appreciation of the country and world in which we live. Gartree’s mission is to develop global citizens that have a profound awareness of the world around. We want them to make conscientious, informed contributions to the wider world in which we live based on respect, tolerance and mutual appreciation of diversity and cultural differences. The curriculum has been designed to develop students’ understanding of Britain’s place in the modern world, and how Britain became a diverse, democratic, and tolerant country.
History is a foundation subject within the school curriculum that enables students to develop a curiosity and fascination of the past, which will allow them to better understand their place in the present. Like all Humanities subjects, it acts as a bridging subject connecting both to the arts and sciences with many of the topics covered having significant cross-curricular links and enriches the cultural capital within students. The curriculum has been designed in a straightforward chronological sequence at Key Stage 3 so that it helps students to better understand and make connections between the past and present. Its focus is largely on British history, but throughout Key Stage 3 it recognises the links Britain has with the rest of the world and the important part this country has played in
international events over the last thousand years.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Overview
Lessons have a strong focus on reading and writing along with emphasising key terminology. All students at Key Stage 3 receive a free Humanities literacy guide. As students progress at Key Stage 3, there is an expectation students should be able to write in more depth and with greater fluency and accuracy using more complicated, specialist technical language to reflect greater mastery of the subject.
Historians also need proficiency in a range of specific historical skills:
· The knowledge and understanding of some of the key features and characteristics of the periods studied.
· The ability to explain and analyse historical events using second-order historical concepts such as causation, 'change and continuity', and 'historical significance'.
· The ability to analyse, evaluate and use historical sources and interpretations.
The curriculum is designed so that students will revisit and develop these skills a number of times during the three-year programme of study. These skills prepare students for their GCSE studies in a school where we expect the vast majority of our students to take a Humanities subject at Key Stage 4. But more importantly, they help our students to become knowledgeable, articulate, and analytical citizens that can make meaningful contributions to their local communities and wider society.
There are three units to be studied each year at Key Stage 3:
Year 7: Medieval Realms; The Tudors and Flooding and The Stuarts
Year 8: British Empire and the Slave Trade; Victorian Britain and World War One
Year 9: Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany; Second World War and The Cold War Era
In Key Stage 3 History, students learn about significant major events and the contributions of key individuals in shaping Britain’s past. The programme of study is delivered in chronological order from the medieval to the modern era. We explore political, social, and religious changes by focusing on key events in British and world history - such as the Norman conquest, the industrial revolution, and the events of the Second World War. Students receive two 50-minute lessons of History a week. The curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum using a chronological study approach of Britain’s past from the medieval to the present day, with an additional focus on pre-medieval political power, and a world issue (international relations in the 20th Century). This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all students.
Learning opportunities outside of the classroom are factored into the curriculum to enable students to experience history in action with a residential trip to Berlin in Year 9 and regional opportunities provided at Warwick Castle and the Black Country Museum to bring history to life and make better sense of classroom learning. Students are encouraged to participate in the Humanities Explorer initiative to visit local historic, geographical, and cultural landmarks to attain a gold, silver, or bronze award. Students are also further supported to continue their learning through the Humanities Challenge booklet to conduct further research and independent study of the topics learnt about in lessons.
By the time students leave Gartree High School students will:
· have an excellent knowledge of key features and characteristics of the periods studied.
· have an excellent understanding of the chronology of British History.
· have an extensive base of historical vocabulary that can be used accurately.
· be fluent in the ability to analyse, evaluate and use historical sources and interpretations.
· have the ability to reach clear conclusions and develop a reasoned argument to explain findings.
· be highly developed in historical skills using second-order historical concepts such as causation, 'change and continuity', and 'historical significance'.
· have an enthusiasm for the subject and a curiosity and interest in historical matters affecting the world today.
· have the ability to express well-balanced opinions, rooted in very good knowledge and understanding about the past.
Key Stage 4
Course: GCSE History
Exam Board: Pearson Edexcel (1HI0)
Final Assessment: Three exams taken at the end of Year 11 lasting between 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour and 45 minutes
Curriculum Aims
At Key Stage 4, students follow the Pearson Edexcel specification for a GCSE qualification. The Edexcel specification was deliberately chosen as it fits well with the existing Key Stage 3 curriculum and is supported by specific expertise within the department. The paper has a balance of modern and pre-modern topics, focuses on political, religious, economic, and social history and ranges from international to local history. This means the subject content should appeal to all students considering GCSE History as an option and should also prepare students well for post-16 study in A-Level History, but also subjects such as Politics, Sociology, Economics and Theology.
The specification aims to develop and extend student knowledge and understanding of key events, periods, and societies in local, British, and wider world history, and of the wide diversity of human experience. It engages in historical enquiry to develop students as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers. The course enhances the ability of students to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context. It also creates an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them.
Curriculum Overview
The Key Stage 4 curriculum is an extension of what students have learnt at Key Stage 3 and offers a seamless transition to GCSE. Students at Gartree High School receive three 50-minute lessons in History a week by a specialist exploring four key units. We have considered and designed the order in which the papers are delivered carefully. In Year 10, we study Germany and then the Cold War to give students a chronological understanding of 20thCentury events and themes. We also feel these topics allow a supported transition into GCSE History, as they cover topics with which our students are most likely to be already confident. These two papers also allow us to cover the vast majority of examination questions in Year 10. In Year 11, where subject content is more challenging, we are mainly re-visiting these examination questions rather than teaching them as new.
There are four topics to be studied at Key Stage 4 over a two-year period with a focus on history over a thousand-year period exploring social, economic, political and military history at either a local, national or global level:
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39
Superpower relations and the Cold War 1941-91
Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88
Migrants in Britain, c800-Present Day
Further details of the GCSE History specification can be found here: