History

“Re-constructing the lives and stories of the past to understand the present”

Our History Curriculum intends to:

Inspire pupils to become curious about the past and equip them to ask perceptive questions, think critically, evaluate arguments and develop perspective and judgement.

Enable pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

Help pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change and the diversity of societies, as well as exploring their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Secondary Choices Process

Learn More

Why learn History?

History helps us to understand humanity. By studying our shared human past, we can unlock the secrets of our very identities. Who you are within your individual and family history. Who you are in your city's history. Who you are within your nation's history. And who you are within humanity's history.

As humans we are constantly looking back to see where we come from, and history gives us the tools to do that at the highest level. To understand why the world is as it is. To understand the issues we may face going forward. To understand what it means to be human. All by exploring what our ancestors have done in the past.

We have a big enquiry question, linked to the National Curriculum, to explore every topic we teach. These questions help pupils to understand that History is a construct that historians create to provide an understanding of the past. We then provide a range of evidence to enable pupils to formulate possible answers for themselves.

In Year 7 our big theme is the global, connected world and where Britain fits into it alongside traditional British topics. In Year 8 our big themes are empire and revolution to show how the modern world was made and to show the scale and breadth of empire across the entire year

Year 7 Course Content:

Year 8 Course Content:

Course Skills:

We will look at the different disciplinary aspects of History:

Sources – exploring and understanding the past through documents, letters, posters, newspapers and more.
Interpretations – exploring and challenging historians and society's views of the past.
Cause and Consequence –judging why events happen and the importance of their consequences.
Significance – judging historical events importance to our lives today and their importance to the people who experienced them.
Narrative – exploring the past and creating historical accounts like all good historians.
Change and Continuity –how and have things changed or stayed the same and the experience of that by people in the past.
Similarity and Difference – how people perceived different ideas or events and how they experienced them.

Fieldwork:

Many of the topics in History - and especially the trips organised to complement the curriculum - are designed to broaden pupils’ cultural experiences such as our Year 7 fieldwork to Portchester Castle in the Summer Term.

Assessment:

Assessments take place in lessons and focus on key knowledge and historical skills or concepts. Time is given to whole class feedback for pupils to act on the targets they have been given.

The Year 9 curriculum allows pupils to build on their KS3 skills of being a historian within topics that allow for greater depth.

Autumn Term: The Forging of the Modern World, 1871-1923

The Causes of the First World War.
Life in the WWI Trenches.
The Historiography of WWI generals.
The End of WWI.
The Russian Revolutio.

Spring Term: ‘To Hell and Back’: Europe’s Era of Self-Destruction, 1918-1939

Peace settlement of WWI.
The Global "Roaring" Twenties.
The Rise of Dictators.
The Causes of WWII.

Summer Term: Superpower Relations and Medicine Through Time

The Early Cold War
Life in East Germany
Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon, Medieval, Early-Modern, Industrial, and Modern Medicine in Britian Through Time

Fieldwork:

Pupils have the opportunity to go on residential fieldwork to Ypres, Belgium, visiting First World War graveyards, the Menin Gate, a trench system and several museums.

Home Learning: Throughout the year pupils will be set regular Home Learning to reinforce the learning in the classroom.

GCSE History pupils will be able to navigate two British, and two non-British topics that encapsulate the creation of both modern Britain and the modern world. Pupils will be able to explore the big picture view of the past and appreciate the vast forces that shape humanity and our society around us.

Year 10 course content:

September-February: Migration, Empire and the People – an exploration of how Britain has been shaped by migration, broadened by empire, and how British identity has emerged over the past 1,300 years.

February-July: Restoration England, 1660-1685 – a study of the reign of Charles II; party animal? You decide. We explore the origins of the British parliamentary system, of cultural explosions in theatre, science and the arts, and a reflection of Britain’s role in expanding the world’s empires and atrocities like the slave trade.

Year 11 course content:

September-January: Germany, 1890-1945 – a hugely important topic for understand the roots of fascism and Nazism in Germany, the destruction of democracy, and humanity’s worst ever experiment into a totalitarian regime.

January-April: Conflict & Tension, 1918-1939 – a study of Europe’s drive for peace around the world after the horrors of WWI, the defiance of the League of Nations to secure that peace but how dictators like Hitler undermined the search for peace in his pursuit of global war and domination.

Fieldwork:

In Year 10: Pupils will be taken on a Migration & Empire walk around Winchester exploring local links to global history.

In Year 11: Pupils have the chance to go to Berlin, Germany. To explore the history of a great European city and revise our Germany GCSE by immersing in the culture. From WWI to Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin offers a microcosm of 20th century history in one city.

Assessment:

Over the syllabus there will be regular assessments to test acquired skills. Ten minutes knowledge tests and GCSE style practice questions. The History GCSE has five components which are examined in two exams at the end of Year 11. Both exams are worth 50% of the course mark.

Home Learning:

Throughout the year pupils will be set regular Home Learning to reinforce the learning in the classroom.

For more information please go to the Specification page for AQA

AQA History (8145)

Planned around half-termly topics, the curriculum provides pupils with the opportunity to learn subject-specific knowledge and understanding, explore links across subject areas and practise their writing. Each topic begins with an enrichment activity such as an educational visit or special event that captures the children’s interest and imagination and builds towards a showcase event such as an exhibition or assembly where children’s learning can be shared and celebrated.

Key stage 2 course content

Pupils will continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They will note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They will regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They will construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They will understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

We will ensure the progression described above through teaching the British, local and world history outlined below, through combining an overview as well as in depth studies to help pupils understand both the long arc of development and the complexity of specific aspects of the content.

Pupils will be taught about:

changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066
he achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China
Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300
A local history theme

Primary phase Long Term Plan

History

Key stage 1 course content

Pupils will develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They will know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They will use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They will be taught to ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They will understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.

In planning to ensure the progression described above through teaching about the people, events and changes outlined below, teachers are often introducing pupils to historical periods that we will study more fully at key stages 2 and 3.

Pupils will be taught about:

Changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life.
events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally [for example, the Great Fire of London, the first aeroplane flight or events commemorated through festivals or anniversaries].
the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods (e.g. Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry, Rosa Parks and Emily Davison, Mary Seacole and/or Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell).
significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

The Westgate School

4 - 16 'all-through' school

Winchester, SO22 5AZ | 01962 854757

Our History Curriculum intends to:

Secondary Choices Process

Why learn History?

Year 7 Course Content:

Year 8 Course Content:

Course Skills:

Fieldwork:

Assessment:

Autumn Term: The Forging of the Modern World, 1871-1923

Spring Term: ‘To Hell and Back’: Europe’s Era of Self-Destruction, 1918-1939

Summer Term: Superpower Relations and Medicine Through Time

Fieldwork:

Home Learning: Throughout the year pupils will be set regular Home Learning to reinforce the learning in the classroom.

Year 10 course content:

Year 11 course content:

Fieldwork:

Assessment:

Home Learning:

For more information please go to the Specification page for AQA

Key stage 2 course content

Primary phase Long Term Plan

Key stage 1 course content