What is History?
Like the Quaker faith, History may need explaining but not defending. Whenever there is a global or national event of any significance, news media rush to describe and account for the causes. That is History. Whenever one seeks to see beyond the visible, that is History. It is the sum of all experience made understandable to a current living generation. It is the memories of those who are dead but who still speak to their heirs. It is the wisdom of those who turn to look back in their journey forward.
Your child will be encouraged and taught to:
Place events, people and changes within a chronological period
Have a range and depth of historical knowledge and understanding
Describe reasons for and the results of historical events and changes (causation)
Assess the significance of the events/people/changes studied
Explain how and why historical events/people/changes have been interpreted differently
Investigate independently the periods studied, using sources
Ask and answer significant questions
Reach conclusions
Evaluate the usefulness of sources and their reliability
Organise and communicate knowledge and the understanding of history through extended narratives, using accurate terminology to describe and explain the topics and periods studied.
Many older generations grew up with school history being a succession of events, linked by dates, all of which inexorably tumbled one after another into a morass of information which could be presented orally or on paper. As someone once said, ‘a knowledge of the past is an interesting thing: it distracts from more serious matters.’ Our object is partly to teach children about their and the world’s past. More importantly, it is to encourage them to become thinking, critical beings, able to assess and evaluate what they are told, to have a healthy scepticism of so-called truths and to reach their own opinions based on what they know to be truth because of the evidence.
History is partly an interesting story about this country’s and other countries’ past, but it is and must be a great deal more. It is at one level a lesson about human behaviour, its successes and its mistakes. At another level it is about understanding people very different from ourselves, with alien values and motivations who happen to have lived in the same geographical space but in a different time sphere. At a higher level it is about creating the desire for finding a truth where such a truth can probably never be found for certain, and learning to live with an incomplete understanding.
If these are our purposes, we are indeed aiming high but, as we say in the classroom, our choice is either to teach children difficult ideas or give up. At the very least we owe it to our generation that children are not ‘dumbed down’ by low expectations. On that basis, if God had intended us to climb mountains he would have created lifts. We still climb mountains and we don’t think God is unhappy about that as long as we don’t forget why we want to climb them.
What will you child study?
Year 7
We start with an introduction to the subject by a number of exercises designed to encourage pupils to see the similarities between the work of detectives and that of historians. We then begin to test those skills by looking at particular moments in the past: three Iron Age bogmen, the age of Tutankhamen, the sinking of the Mary Rose, and other examples chosen from differing periods of time and location. In the process of this introduction, we place a strong emphasis upon the importance of the written word as the primary, but not the only, means of communication. Each lesson begins with 10 minutes of quiet reading from history books, liaising with the Library and the English Department.
We then proceed to study an anglocentric version of British history, going back into the neglected Dark Ages ensuring that the children realise where the English came from and how they colonised this island, marginalising the Britons. It remains an excellent context for the major topic of the year, namely the events of 1066 and the nature of the political system imposed on the English by the Normans. We then explore various questions concerning the main features of that system, particularly the power of the Christian Church in the lives of all classes of the people. We conclude the year with a detailed study of castles, their architecture, development and their demise. The Black Death of 1348 to 1369 is a suitably appealing finale.
Year 8
As before, the topics are presented in the form of questions. We launch into a broad study of England in the 16th and 17th centuries. We look at the lives of the people, rich and poor, young and old, men and women, and draw comparisons with today. We return to and build on the development of the Church and the impact of the Protestant Reformation. This involves Henry VIII and his wives, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and others. The 17th century, with its own cast of characters and villains follows.
Year 9
This is the last year of compulsory school history and we cover two large topics: the first half of the year sees the Industrial Revolution examined; the second half sees a more detailed study of Britain and the Second World War. All topics are presented still as questions and there is an increased use of source material so that a greater awareness and a need for interpretation are achieved, addressing issues of relevance, reliability and utility. Students may opt to take the study of History to GCSE.
How will your child be assessed?
There are three principles which we follow
We should be clear about what your child should learn
Your child should be able to express what s/he knows
Each child should be allowed to fulfil their potential
Homework is set once a week for all classes as a 30-minute exercise. It is intended to support work in the classroom by providing extra time in which to complete tasks set; to undertake exemplar tasks; to perform work which saves time in the classroom and to practise research.
