How we Support and Develop Your Child

Lesson activities are tailored to support students of all abilities. Teachers in history provide support and guidance for those who need it and endeavour to ensure appropriate challenge for all students so that they are stretched in order to exceed their potential. Lessons are varied in order to engage all varieties of learners. We work closely with the student support centre to ensure individual needs are met and staff are highly proficient in differentiating work to allow the most able to thrive whilst also allowing appropriate support for students who need it. Students are given ‘now’ tasks after their books have been marked in order to improve their work or extend their knowledge and understanding of key topics but ultimately to help them progress in history.

How we Assess Your Child's Progress

Students will complete formal assessments half termly and, in the Summer Term, sit their End of Year Assessment. They will be given a threshold for each assessment with targets to improve their performance in the coming weeks. Classwork is also marked regularly and is often given a threshold to guide and inform students of their current progress and motivate them to improve.

Year 7

Overview

In History, our aim is to develop students’ understanding of the past and enable them to use history as a tool for making sense of the modern world. Through the study of British and world history, students will explore a diverse range of societies, cultures, individuals and events, developing an appreciation of the experiences and contributions of different people throughout history. We strive to enthuse and engage students through interactive teaching that develops their historical knowledge, challenges their thinking and encourages them to become effective learners and inquisitive citizens.

Skills Developed

Throughout Year 7, students will develop the skills needed to think, write and communicate like historians. They will be introduced to five key second-order concepts: significance, change and continuity, causation, similarity and difference, and interpretations. These concepts will be revisited and applied across different historical periods and topics, enabling students to build on their understanding and make increasingly sophisticated connections between different aspects of the past.

Students will develop their ability to construct written explanations and arguments using accurate historical knowledge, relevant evidence and appropriate subject-specific vocabulary. They will learn how to structure paragraphs, explain historical causes and consequences, make comparisons, assess significance and support judgements. Through regular opportunities to write extended answers, students will develop their ability to write like historians, moving beyond simply describing events to explaining, analysing and evaluating the past.

Alongside this, students will develop their oral literacy through discussion, questioning and debate. They will be encouraged to articulate their ideas clearly, listen to different viewpoints, challenge arguments and justify their own opinions using historical evidence. Reading, source analysis and the interpretation of historical information will also support the development of their wider literacy skills.

As students progress through the curriculum, historical knowledge and skills will be built upon and revisited. This will allow them to strengthen their understanding of key content, develop confidence in applying historical concepts and make connections across the different periods and societies they study.

Topics Covered

Download the History Year 7 Curriculum Overview

• Why does Alfred deserve his statue?
• Norman conquest or Norman makeover?
• How far did the balance of power shift between rulers and the ruled between 1215 and 1381?
• How were the Mansa Musa’s Mali empire and the Songhai empire similar?
• How and why did religion change in England during the reformation?
• Who had the power to punish? From blood feuds to burning witches. How much did crime and punishment really change?

Year 8

In History, our aim is to continue developing students’ understanding of the past and enable them to use history as a tool for making sense of the modern world. The Year 8 curriculum focuses more explicitly on the wider world and Britain's place within it, exploring how different societies, cultures and civilisations have developed and interacted throughout history. Students will investigate a diverse range of individuals, events and experiences, considering how Britain has influenced, and been influenced by, the wider world. Through engaging and interactive teaching, we aim to enthuse students, broaden their historical knowledge and take their thinking to a deeper level, encouraging them to question, challenge and explore the past with increasing independence.

Skills Developed

Throughout Year 8, students will continue to develop the skills needed to think, write and communicate like historians. They will revisit and strengthen their understanding of the five key second-order concepts introduced in Year 7: significance, change and continuity, causation, similarity and difference, and interpretations. These concepts will be applied across new historical periods and contexts, allowing students to build on their previous learning, make connections between topics and develop increasingly secure and sophisticated historical thinking.

Students will be expected to apply these concepts with greater confidence and depth. They will develop their ability to explain and weigh up historical causes, assess the significance of individuals and events, identify patterns of change and continuity, make detailed comparisons and understand why interpretations of the past can differ. They will increasingly recognise that historical events are complex and that different factors and perspectives need to be considered when reaching a judgement.

Students will continue to develop their ability to write like historians through constructing well-developed explanations and arguments supported by accurate knowledge, relevant evidence and appropriate historical terminology. They will build on their previous experience of paragraph structure and extended writing, developing greater precision in their explanations, comparisons and judgements.

Oral literacy will remain an important part of the curriculum, with students encouraged to articulate and justify their ideas, engage in discussion and debate, respond to alternative viewpoints and challenge arguments using historical evidence. Reading, source analysis and the interpretation of historical information will further strengthen their wider literacy skills.

Through the continued revisiting of key content and historical concepts, students will build a more connected understanding of the past and develop the confidence and independence to apply their historical knowledge and skills to increasingly challenging questions.

Topics Covered

Download the History Year 8 Curriculum Overview

• Why did the Spanish succeed and the English fail in the New world?
• Who ran an Empire better? The Ottomans or the Mughals
• Did the Amritsar massacre reveal the true nature of the British empire?
• Who should we remember from the history of Slavery?
• What stayed the same despite the Industrial Revolution?
• How did Britain become more democratic?

Year 9

Skills Developed

A variety of skills are developed in History lessons. Students will develop their reading, writing and literacy skills in lessons whilst developing their confidence and oral skills by discussing and debating historical issues in class. More specific historical skills will be introduced in the year 9 history curriculum building on those developed in years 7 and 8 but moving towards extended historical writing and producing extended written answers providing balanced views from a variety of historical perspectives. By the end of Year 9, we aim to have equipped students with excellent source analysis skills.

Topics Covered

Download the History Year 9 Curriculum Overview

• How significant was the suffrage movement in securing votes for women? - (Assessed)
• Why did Britain go to war in 1914? - (Assessed)
• Why did the Second World War happen? - (Peer-Assessed)
• Why did the Allies win the Second World War? - (Assessed)
• How far did Britain change after WW2? - (Assessed in EOYT)
• How far did the world change after WW2? - (Non-Assessed)

Subject Leader: Mr G John
Email: johng@lytchett.org.uk

What are the aims of the course?
History may be about the past but it should help you to understand the present!  If you should study History in Years 10 and 11 you will acquire knowledge and understanding about Britain, Germany and other European countries through medieval, early modern and modern time periods.  You will investigate events and people, and, above all, you'll begin to understand why an ability to look at evidence critically is so important in the modern world.

What is the content of the course?
You will follow the AQA Syllabus which covers the following topics;

• Topic A: Germany, 1890-1945, Democracy and Dictatorship (includes Nazi Germany).
• Topic B: Conflict and Tension, 1894-1914 (The First World War).
• Topic C: Britain, Health and the People, c.500-2000 (The History of Medicine).
• Topic D: Elizabethan England, 1568-1603.

Download the History Year 10 Curriculum Overview

Download the History Year 11 Curriculum Overview

What will the course be like?
Students will be expected to work both independently and in groups.  Some lessons will involve note taking and written question answers, but role-play, games, poster design, whole class and small group discussion will also feature.  Students will be expected to investigate, analyse and evaluate sources from the past including photos, cartoons, songs, statistics and written evidence.  An optional fieldwork trip to Belgium and France and some of the First World War battle sites has become a very popular part of the course.

Are there any special requirements?
Just the one!  A real determination to succeed – this means keeping your notes up-to-date, completing work on time and participating in the lesson as much as you are able.

What will I be able to do by the end of the course?
History is a well-regarded subject. At the end of the course you should be able to:

• Think for yourself! Because you will be able to understand, interpret and evaluate a range of sources and information.
• Show factual knowledge about Britain, Germany and other European countries across a range of time periods.
• Understand some of the key issues which have helped shape the modern world.

How will the course be assessed?
Students will sit two exams (worth 50% each) in June 2022. The two exams are 2 hours each.

What next?
Having enjoyed doing 20th Century topics, you will probably want to build on your knowledge but also do something new – that’s just what the A-Level History course does!  You are likely to study modern British history (post Second World War) as well as the history of Russia and countries in Eastern Europe.