History Department

History is part of the Humanities faculty, working alongside both Geography and Religious Education.

Our aims are to:

• Provide youngsters with a wide ranging experience of History, from the Romans to the Twentieth Century, based on the 5 key-aspects of chronology, knowledge, interpretation, enquiry and communication.
• Provide opportunity for the experience of active History, encouraging students to engage fully in their learning and become highly-skilled, independent Historians.
• Encourage students to become critical thinkers, forming and evaluating their own historical interpretations of the past.
• Develop an understanding of the skills involved in History and the benefits the subject brings to society, including its potential as a career option.

Accommodation and Resources:

History is based in its own 4 specialist classrooms, located together in the central part of the school, all of which are equipped with an interactive whiteboard. These boards are used to enhance both the teaching and learning experience, through the use of the internet, PowerPoint presentations, and subject-specific software to help engage students. The department also uses the school library for independent research and local history studies.

Key Stage 3

The students are taught Humanities for five lessons a week in year 7, in mixed ability groups. Then in years 8 and 9, the students have 2 lessons of 50 minutes each week. Pupils are taught in ability sets in years 8 and 9. The key-stage is divided into the following units:

Key Stage 4

History remains a popular option for GCSE. Students study GCSE Modern World, with depth studies on Nazi Germany and America.

Extra-curricular Activities

All staff help run after-school sessions for both revision and coursework. In addition there is a weekly historical games club and occasional local-history research project.

The History department also runs 2 of the 3 alternative curricular days for year 7. One of which involves a castle visit and on the second we hold our own medieval event. A local, medieval History group comes into school and leads activities on nobility, heraldry, medicine, surgery & armour. They also train the soldiers in the art of Bill Drill and hold their own medieval tournament.

In year 10 students also have the opportunity to attend 2 Historical visits. The first one a trip to the Imperial War Museum in London, and then a residential trip exploring the battlefields of WW1.

In year 11, students also visit the Cold War Exhibition at Cosford.