What is History and why do we teach it?
History lessons at Brompton Hall explore discoveries and events from the past based on the National Curriculum Programme of Study. These cover carefully selected instances from the discovery of farming over 4000 years ago to the development of the Internet in the last 20 years.
Learners are encouraged to make links between the events and people they study to deepen their appreciation of the significance of these and links are frequently made with the Geography Schemes of Work.
History lessons encourage learners to consider the information they discover as historians: to question their sources, to stand back a look at the bigger picture - what does my learning about Tudor schools tell me about Tudor values or society? - for example, lessons encourage British Values such as appreciation of democracy and individual liberty or admiration for the work of great scientists, explorers and engineers. These are attributes at the heart of being British that can become truly life-long.
Aims
- To deliver the current National Curriculum for History to all KS 3 and KS 4 learners.
- To study the lives of ordinary people and societies alongside the heroes of British and world history, mostly since 1066.
- To deliver a differentiated curriculum with resources tailored to the needs of all learners that enables each one to access every task and make progress from that point of access.
- To identify and encourage skills such as collaboration, respect for others, how to overcome a difficult task.
- To monitor and record the progress of each student, delivering units of work that enable each boy to understand how he can progress and that ensure he does so.
Resources
The department is developing its resources to enhance learning. It is designing and producing resources to support the new Curriculum and has purchased new text books for new units such as ‘A Street Through Time’.
It is developing a range of resources and activities to help learners develop literacy, numeracy and working memory.
Teaching & Assessment
A typical history lesson includes a starter activity, teaching input then a range of differentiated activities with a plenary or summary task. Starters often focus on promoting literacy, numeracy or memory skills. All main activities are differentiated, usually using a familiar ‘Must Do’, ‘Try to’ and Go for it’ challenge for written and practical tasks.
The teacher works closely with an Advanced Skills Teaching Assistant who is also involved in the planning and preparation of resources and classroom displays that support learning.
Learners are also given regular opportunities to reflect on their own work and that of their peers, usually using the WWW (what went well) and EBI (even better if?) format but also using a range of methods to encourage meaningful engagement with these activities.
Assessment
The department has developed and implemented a 'rainbow' system for tracking progress that works alongside the system used in Keystage 2. Knowledge of facts and details are assessed alongside the skills of a historian such as comparing different historical periods, using this information to answer higher order questions and relating information from different periods or regions.
Assessment in History is carried out in line with the whole school policies on marking, recording and reporting. Verbal and written feedback is given to all learners during lessons and a range of experiences recorded using 2 Build a Profile. The Progress Tracker spreadsheet is completed on a termly basis to record progress measured against subject specific targets.
Qualification Pathways available to learners:
Edexcel Entry Level qualification in History from September 2016.