Intent:

The curriculum is designed to be ambitious & to meet the needs of the modern world. The History department purposely plans to fire pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain and the wider world. Pupils are taught chronologically so that they develop a framework of history that will enable them to make sense of the new knowledge they acquire. This allows pupils to have a greater understanding of change, to see how we arrived ‘here’ and help them make sense of the present. History at All Saints’ allows pupils to interlink the challenges of the present with those of the past. By doing so, this allows pupils in both KS3 and KS4 to immerse themselves in the cultural capital of time. The History department aims to teach pupils that the past is gone, but that history is constructed and contested. History’s unique second-order concepts, such as ‘change and continuity’, ‘cause and consequence’ ‘significance’ and ‘similarity and difference’ help pupils to understand and construct arguments and support them to become analytical and critical thinkers. This leads them to question human motivation and society with skill and confidence, as well as develop their intellectual, moral and social understanding of the diverse world they now live in.

Students to have a ‘deeper’ knowledge: teaching is designed to help students to remember in the long term the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. Students are encouraged to be confident and to debate and discuss their knowledge of topics and respond to feedback in a way that is progressive. Stamina and technique are nurtured over time. The curriculum is purposely planned so that pupils’ prior knowledge helps them learn new material more easily. For example, pupils are taught the concept of ‘taking power’ in Year 7 when studying the Norman Conquest and when the European settlers came into contact with the Native Americans. Although ‘taking power’ has complex connotations, including specific connotations when used in historical narratives. Therefore, when pupils study Stalin ‘taking power’ in Soviet Russia in Year 9, this foundation in Year 7 ensures that the concept of ‘taking power’ has some meaning to them. In addition, pupils are exposed to abstract concepts frequently and repeatedly and over differing time periods. These concepts are weaved into teaching and are not simply definitions of words; they are defined within specific contexts. For example, ‘revolutionary’ will have a particular meaning depending on whether the pupils are being taught about the Industrial Revolution in Year 8 or the Russian Revolution in Year 9.