History
Curriculum Intent
In History, we want students to become independent thinkers and to develop their interest in the past, and to question the ideas and explanations of the past as they begin to form their own views of their experiences in the present.
All people and peoples are living histories. Communities speak languages that have been passed down from people before us. We live in societies with a tradition, culture, religion that have been passed down through generations of our ancestors. We use technologies and smart phones and watches that we ourselves have not created. They have been developed over time. This is what has always fascinated me about History – everything has a story, and it is our responsibility as historians to tell those stories of the past
Students at McKee are being developed into lifelong learners through a meaningful, varied and exciting curriculum. We allow students to access real history from real people to allow them to understand that history is all around us and that we all contribute to the world around us.
Curriculum Map
| Term | Key Stage 3 – Year 1 | Key Stage 3 – Year 2 | Key stage 4 – Year 10 | Key Stage 4 – Year 11 |
| HT 1 | Importance of water through time
Norman Conquest Castles |
Sugar, Empire and Slavery
Britain 1750-1901 East India Company |
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 Peace-making | Elizabethan England -1568-1603 – Elizabeth and her early life |
| HT 2 | Middle Ages – what mattered to them?
1348 Black Death Who had power in the Middle Ages? Renaissance and Reformation |
Impact of Industrial Revolution
How did Britain colonise Australia? Peterloo |
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 How did League of Nations keep the peace? | Elizabethan England 1568-1603 – Life in Elizabethan England |
| HT 3 | Reformation and Changes 1450-1750
100 years war War of the Roses |
Victorians – attitude to family
What mattered to British rulers in India WW1 |
Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 Origins of WW2 | Elizabethan England 1568-1603 – Troubles at home and abroad |
| HT 4 | Why was exploration important – Christopher Columbus
Da Vinci |
Inter-war years
Women’s suffrage movement |
Germany 1890-1945 – What was Germany like pre-1914? | Health and the People c1000-present day – Medieval Medicine |
| HT 5 | Tudors
Who was the Greatest Tudor Monarch? Was it really a golden age for Elizabeth?
|
20th Century – Traumatic Century
WW2 The Blitz How should Churchill be remembered? Holocaust |
Germany 1890-1945 – Weimar Germany | Health and the people c1000-present day – Renaissance and changes in medicine |
| HT 6 | The Stuarts
English Civil War Life under Cromwell |
Our World Today
Equal Rights Cold War McDonald’s story Impact of Internet Terrorism |
Germany 1890-1945 – Life under the Nazi’s | Health and the People c1000-present day – Modern Medicine |
Curriculum Justification
The choice of AQA for History is because it offers students a variety of exciting and challenging topics that have underpinned societies for more than 1,000 years. The topics at GCSE are topics that I as the teacher am familiar with and I completed my GCSE History exam under AQA. The mainstream schools locally that I collaborate with also teach the AQA specification which is beneficial for CPD.
The skills that underpin GCSE History are applicable to wide range of jobs. The skills of processing, analysing and explaining information in own words in something that you must do in jobs such as solicitors/lawyer.
Being able to communicate the past into your own words, describe how events happened and explaining the significance of the impact is something that can be seen in professions such as journalism.
Students that study GCSE History at McKee can go onto studying both Modern History and Ancient History at A level. Part of the course allows them to study through Thematic studies right the way back to how the Ancient Greeks and Romans lived and the impact that they have had on civilisation even to this day. Students are encouraged to engage with the history that is all around them.
Curriculum Development
KS3 – We are exploring the possibility for students to have a visit to the cinema to watch the film 1917 – due for release in Jan 2020. This film tells the experiences of those who fought during the First World War and fits in with the curriculum.
To implement more historical literacy into the curriculum at both KS3 and KS4. To plan and implement further local history into the curriculum at KS3 and for students to visit various parts of the community and explore the histories of the past.
