History
Teachers & Roles in Department
| Miss K McGwyre |
Head of Department |
| Mr K Heslop |
Responsibilitiy Unit 4 A Level |
| Mr J Longley |
|
| Mr M Pollard |
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| Miss V Howard |
|
About History
History should fire “pupil’s curiosity and imagination, moving and inspiring them with the dilemmas, choices and beliefs of people in the past”. At Silverdale, pupils in Key Stage 3,4 and 5 study a range of people, events and situations from local, national and international history. We aim to improve the relevance of history by helping pupils develop their own identities, a sense of community and to respect each other by engaging with the rich cultural diversity of the past and local and personal history.
Curriculum
Key Stage 3
Y7 – Teaching focuses on the following key questions:
1. Did Harold deserve to lose the English throne?
2. Why did the Black Death and Peasants Revolt change peoples’ lives?
3. Does Power change in medieval Britain?
4. Was the Arab World more advanced than Medieval Britain?
5. Why did England become protestant in the 16th century?
6. Pupil Led Enquiry on the development of castles.
Y8 – Teaching focuses on the following key questions:
1. Why were the English people fighting each other in the 1640’s?
2. What was life like in the 1600’s?
3. How did Britain become an industrial nation? Did it improve life for everyone?
4. Pupil led enquiry on Jack The Ripper.
5. Why did Britain want an empire?
6. Why did attitudes to the slave trade change throughout the 1800’s?
7. Who wanted their liberty and why?
Y9 – Teaching focuses on the following key questions:
1. How did an assassination cause a world war?
2. Pupil Led Enquiry on life in the trenches.
3. What was life like for Americans and Russian in the 1930’s?
4. Why did World War II follow so soon?
5. How did life change during World War II?
6. What was the Cold War?
7. Why was there a struggle for civil rights in the USA?
8. What should we learn about terrorism?
ASSESSMENT
Assessments are carried out relating to National Curriculum Levels. Pupils are given a summary to stick in their book of the different skills that we are developing. These include interpretation, chronological understanding and historical enquiry. Pupil feedback sheets record levels and allow pupils to see how they can progress in that particular area.
HOMEWORK
Staff are able to set homework once a week. This may focus on completing work started in class, research, , ongoing project work or tasks set through the MLE. It is anticipated that homework will take students between 15 and 30 minutes to complete.
Key Stage 4
Students sit the OCR Medicine Through Time with a depth study in the American West. Their Controlled Assessment focus is Modern World (Northern Ireland)
Predicted grades and assessment details are available for staff on Sims.
PUPIL WORK
Pupils work on file paper in files. All marked work, except Controlled Assessment is handed back to pupils.
Pupil’s class notes are not formally marked by staff, though staff do check that work is being completed and that files are in order. File Check sheets record this monitoring and are available on the MLE. Staff will often go over information orally and encourage pupils to add extra points as a result of these checks.
HOMEWORK:
Homework is able to be set each lesson. The exercises set as homework reflect the requirements of the exam syllabus. This will usually be based on note taking, extra reading, revising, completing examination questions or completing research for controlled assessment tasks.
General marking comments should indicate where pupils have performed well and where there are areas for improvement.
CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT:
Pupils complete one controlled assessment question which is set by the exam board (OCR) in April. Our chosen focus is the Modern World Study and our topic is ‘The troubles’ in Northern Ireland. This makes up 25% of their GCSE grade.
The Controlled Assessment unit has been designed to be completed over a period of approximately 11 weeks. The initial 8 weeks will follow a programme of study focusing on events in Northern Ireland in the lead up to ‘The Troubles’. The final 3 weeks will enable students to plan and write up their answer to the set question. This will be done in CONTROLLED conditions and will last for 8 hours. The work they hand in at the end of this period will be assessed. There is no opportunity to complete it at home.
ASSESSMENT
Assessments are given to students approximately every half term. These are taken from past exam papers and are marked using exam board mark schemes. A record sheet is available for students to record their results and check them against their predicted target grades. A copy of this is available on the MLE.
Key Stage 5
PUPIL WORK
Pupils work on file paper in files. All marked work, except Coursework is handed back to pupils.
Pupil’s class notes are not formally marked by staff, though staff do check that work is being completed and that files are in order. Staff will often go over information orally and encourage pupils to add extra points as a result of these checks. Students are encouraged to organise their folders effectively, with guidance from staff during their lessons.
Marked work is usually based on questions, essays or source based appraisal questions. Essays usually have a 2 week deadline or are timed in class.
Essays and other examination questions are marked using a band and mark, as suggested by Edexcel. Students are given a copy of grade descriptions to enable them to check their own progress and guide their essay writing. Guidance on how to write essays is provided in class, on their essay feedback sheets, Student Handbook and orally.
HOMEWORK:
Students are encouraged to spend 4 – 6 hours per week on their History work. This may be spent on essay preparation, revision, extra reading and note making. The exercises set as homework reflect the requirements of the exam syllabus. This will usually be based on note taking, extra reading, revising, completing examination questions or completing research for controlled assessment tasks.
General marking comments should indicate where pupils have performed well and where there are areas for improvement.
ASSESSMENT:
Students are regularly set past paper questions. These are either marked by staff using the above Analysis sheet, or used as peer marking. These essays do not contribute towards their final grade
COURSEWORK:
Unit 4 of the Edexcel course is a coursework module which focuses on Roman Britain. This involves a taught course followed by 2 questions that pupils complete in Y13. Responses are marked internally, moderated within the department and then a selection are requested for external moderation. It comprises 40% of students A2 grade.
EXAMS
Pupils sit Unit 1 and Unit 2 exams in the summer of Y12 (50% each of their AS grade)and Unit 3 (60% of their A2 grade)in the summer of Y13.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
We aim to offer students the opportunity to study history outside of the class room, offering the following enrichment activities:
Y7 – Warwick castle
Y8 – Beamish open air museum
Y11 – Thackray medical museum