History Department
History lessons in all year groups contain a lot of discussion where everyone is expected to take part. We begin with detailed story telling as the basis of all good History and we develop the idea of History as telling stories from different points of view. We explain why key events are important and spend time thinking about what might happen next.
We examine written and picture sources from the past and think about what they can tell us. We ask questions such as, ‘Why is this source still useful even though some of the details might be wrong?’
There is a strong emphasis on detailed writing and explanation in assessed work. At GCSE, History remains a subject that is welcomed by employers and colleges alike as a traditional subject that has retained high levels of expectation. The GCSE we offer is Modern World History. Topics range from Jack the Ripper to the Vietnam War, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the First World War, and from the Cold War to the Civil Rights movement in the USA.
Why bother to study History?
Year 11 Stayback revision classes.
The weekend after we first studied the Wall Street Crash, Leherman’s Bank went bust. The pupils were coming in the following week to tell me all about what was happening and that it was just like 1929 all over again. As we went on to study the Great Depression, we saw that the action the government took to slow the disaster down came from lessons learned from the past. Now, as we revise the topic in the afterschool staybacks, the recession has come home and hit us hard. What do the pupils have to say now?
Lucy: “The Wall Street Crash is relevant today because the recession is very similar, as the banks were failing as we were studying the topic. Learning History is relevant to today as we can relate to similar events in the past, learn from our mistakes and therefore deal better with situations now.”
Ashley: “The Wall Street Crash is relevant today as it has shown how people became unemployed and this can happen today as we are in the middle of a heartbreaking recession.”
James: “It gives us an insight into what has happened. Studying the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression helps us to understand what is happening today.”
Sam: “If things hadn’t been learned from the Crash, we might have been in even more of a crisis now.”
Lizzie: “If the government do not help, then the situation can worsen. It helps us realise the effects of a recession as well as how it started.”
Luke: “History is relevant today because it is the backbone to some of the problems we face in today’s modern society.”
Melissa: “I think studying the Wall Street Crash is as relevant today because it has had a big influence on governments today. People have learned from economic poverty and it is interesting to learn how people’s lives can be afflicted by it.”
