History Curriculum
The aim of the History department at Shevington High School is to enable students to actively engage with the past and to use the knowledge and skills they develop, whilst with us, to frame their understandings. As a team we strive to foster an interest in the past, with our pupils, that stays with them for the rest of their lives.
Teaching and Learning
Where possible, we use a wide variety of teaching and learning methods to deliver History at Shevington, from class debate to Drama lessons or project work. History lessons are engaging, arouse curiosity and provide challenge and intellectual stimulation for all students.
Assessment
In History all pupils are assessed through a combination of the following three components:
- Their own Historical understanding (e.g. in what year an event took place).
- The way in which they use key historical skills (such as change and continuity), to analyse an event, a person or a period of time.
- Their ability to interpret evidence and source material (e.g. to correctly identify and explain the use of propaganda in a poster or written text).
Formal assessments take place throughout the year with each class completing, at least, twelve assessed pieces per year.
Lessons
KS3
- Year 7 – two hours per week
- Year 8 – two hours per week
- Year 9 – two hours per week
KS4
- Year 10 – five hours per fortnight
- Year 11 – six hours per fortnight
History is an incredibly popular option subject at KS4, with four classes in both Year 10 and in Year 11 (as of September 2023).
At KS4 we follow the EdExcel History specification. Students complete the following modules for their History GCSE at Shevington:
Paper 1: Crime and punishment through time 1000AD-present day and Whitechapel, crime, policing and the inner city 1870-1900 (students study these topics in Year 11).
Paper 2: Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588 and superpower relations and the Cold War 1941-1991 (students study these topics in Year 10).
Paper 3: Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939 (students start this topic in Year 10 and finish it at the start of Year 11).
Staff
Mr Nichols – Head of Subject/Teacher of History
Mrs Simpson – Teacher of History
Mr Simmons – Teacher of History