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Curriculum Intent 

Through teaching history I intend that pupils will: develop their factual knowledge of British history from 1045 onwards, which will always stand them in good stead from pub quizzes to University Challenge; and use and develop their powers of empathy and critical thinking — skills which they will bring to bear in complex situations for the rest of their lives. 

Our Key Stage Three History Curriculum will explore the political and social development of our kingdoms in some depth and tackle three key concepts of particular relevance in our current climate: the separation of church and state; the development of our constitution; and the gradual accretion of our rights over the centuries. At Key Stages 4, new and relevant topics are pursued where possible and any revisiting of prior topics is consciously intended to complement and extend, rather than repeat, earlier studies. 

Key Stage Three themes include: 

Royal authority, Parliament, Popular rights, Centrality of faith, dDevelopment of constitution, Creation of the UK, Democracy, Systems of government 

In Key Stage Four students follow the AQA GCSE syllabus, from which the following four units have been chosen. 

• The USA 1920-73: chosen so as not to repeat prior learning and instead to raise pupils’ geographical and political awareness of Britain’s key ally, currently the most powerful nation on Earth. 

• Conflict in Asia 1950-75: chosen to raise pupils’ geographical and political awareness of an increasingly relevant part of the world. 

• Power & the People 1170-Present: chosen for the valuable opportunity it provides to revisit, consolidate and embed the constitutional history that is such a focus of Key Stage 3 and so vital to the development of an informed and active citizenry. 

• Normans 1066-1100: chosen for the valuable opportunity it provides to revisit, consolidate and embed the first topic studied in Key Stage Three, thereby emphasising the scale of the learning journey that has occurred, and to link forward to the medieval religiosity and papal ambition of the A-level’s Age of the Crusades unit.