History

What do we want students to take away from History at Birchwood Community High School? Which values are important to us?

Through our curriculum we want to build a coherent narrative that enables our students to understand the key developments that have shaped the modern world.
We aim to provide students with an informed sense of the past, in particular an understanding of Britain’s historical place in the world.
We believe that it is important to provide our students with a broad and representative understanding of past events. To this end we engage with a wide range of local, national and international developments and incorporate a variety of voices and perspectives.
We want our students to be able to understand how historians think and recognise how historical knowledge works as well as how it is constructed.

How do we build on what students learn at KS2?

We want to ensure that our students are thoroughly supported in their transition from KS2 to KS3 history. In order to do this, we work with local primary schools so that our curriculums complement one another. We also, in the first half-term of year 7 particularly, prioritise revisiting and building on the following:

Students’ understanding of chronology and key historical terminology.
Students’ understanding of the historical periods which they have studied as part of the KS2 national curriculum including the Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons.

In addition, throughout year 7 we focus on the core aspects of disciplinary knowledge stipulated in the KS2 national curriculum including change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

How do we cover the KS3 National Curriculum and beyond?

We believe that covering the KS3 National Curriculum for History is vital and an entitlement for all of our students, however we aim to teach an ambitious, knowledge rich curriculum which provides opportunities to explore wider knowledge beyond this.

We ensure that we cover the KS3 National Curriculum by covering the following:

(List the blue points from the NC)

Year 7

The development of church and state in Medieval Britain 1066-1509: including the Norman Conquest, Medieval society, the Black Death, the Peasants revolt, the importance of the Medieval church.
The development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745: including the English Reformation and Counter Reformation (Henry VIII to Mary I) and Elizabethan England including the religious settlement.
The study of an aspect or theme in British history that consolidates and extends pupils’ chronological knowledge from before 1066: including a study of an aspect of social history through time (sanitation). Pre-1066 chronological understanding is also developed during year 7 through a study of migration to Britain and Anglo-Saxon England.

Year 8

The development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745: including the causes and events of the civil wars throughout Britain, the Interregnum and the Restoration.
Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901: including Britain as the first industrial nation and the impact on society, the transatlantic slave trade: its effects and eventual abolition, the first colony in America and first contact with India, the British Empire in India and the extension of the franchise.
Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day: including the women’s suffrage, the Liberal reforms as a step towards the creation of the Welfare State and the First World War.

Year 9

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day: including the peace settlements, the rise of the Nazi party, the Holocaust, Indian independence and the end of Empire.

A local history study: a study over time, testing how far sites in our locality reflect aspects of national history specifically looking at Warrington [transport, impact of the industrial revolution, role in the Second World War, terrorism].

At least one study of a significant society or issue in world history and its interconnections with other world developments: Medieval Baghdad incorporating the rise of Islam, the importance of the Silk Roads and the impact of scientific, mathematical and technological developments in Baghdad.

Beyond this, we cover:

The Russian revolution c.1905 – 1939.
American society in the 1920s.
The Civil Rights struggle in the USA c.1860 – 1970.

What do we cover in KS4 and how do we aspire towards KS5?

Year 10
- Crime and Punishment c.1000 – present day with Whitechapel depth study.
- Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941 – 1991.
Year 11
- Early Elizabethan England, 1558 – 1588.
- Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1919 – 1939.

We want to ensure that our students aspire to study history in the future and understand the careers available to them, in this field.

To ensure that students understand the variety of options open to them, we:

We aim to teach an ambitious, diverse and challenging curriculum that builds a genuine interest in the past and provides a basis for future study.
We incorporate information throughout KS3 and KS4 that identifies how different qualifications in history, as well as the skills that they are developing, might support them in a variety of different career paths.
We are increasingly building a focus on how historians work and incorporating authentic examples of historical scholarship.
We encourage students to read historical works that will deepen their understanding and interest.
We show students the contemporary relevance of the events that they have studied through reading homework articles.