History

What is our overarching curriculum intent and what do we intend students leave Bridgemary School with?

We intend that our curriculum supports our Trust ambition of ‘achieving more together’.  We do this by delivering a diverse range of topics in which students will develop an understanding of the history of Britain, and Britain’s place in the world. Students will develop an intellectual curiosity around history by completing enquiries in which they will consider multiple historical interpretations, whilst forming their own opinions. By the time students leave Bridgemary school, we intend for them to have the functional skills required of an historian, including, but not limited to analysing information, being able to form and defend a judgement, making inferences from a source, and being able to engage with second order concepts like change and continuity and cause and consequence.

Our curriculum is built around a spiral model, allowing students to build on the core knowledge that they develop over the course of their learning journey, which will be enhanced with facilitating knowledge, giving them context and extending their understanding. Procedural knowledge in the form of skills will be taught explicitly throughout the course, and built into the curriculum at regular intervals allowing students to reflect on their progress and identify areas in which they can improve further. This will equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to progress through their education and into their GCSE examinations and beyond. The curriculum itself will give students an opportunity to explore the position of Britain in the wider context of the world, and be able to place key events in the narrative of British history whilst also being able to explain what was happening in other areas of the world. We intend to deliver a diverse curriculum in which students will learn about a range of cultures and be able to compare the experiences of different groups and peoples within a historical context. Overall the history department intends to develop learners who are naturally curious about the world around them and who can use the skills they have developed in order to become active and informed citizens who are lifelong learners. 

What is the structural intent of the subject curriculum, & how is it sequenced so that students know and remember more?

The curriculum across all subjects is carefully sequenced so that prior core declarative and procedural knowledge is built upon, with continual opportunities for core knowledge to be interleaved throughout both key stages so that students know more, remember more and can apply that knowledge in a range of contexts.  Facilitating knowledge adds important local, national, and global context to core knowledge, and our curriculum intends to provide a richness and diversity that enables our students to experience learning in real life contexts.

How do any school values and focuses influence or feed through the curriculum?

The school curriculum is built on 4 aims to ensure our students receive and are able to access it fully, those being:

• Reading and comprehension that aims to ensure all students leave with a reading age at least equivalent to their chronological age
• Our school ethos of Be Kind, Work Hard, Be the Best Version of Yourself
• A deepening understanding of core and facilitating knowledge that enables students to know and remember more
• A wide appreciation of the world that we live in, and the celebration of the diversity this brings

In History we support these aims by providing students with an opportunity to explore and engage with a wide ranging and varied curriculum. Students will be given historical texts and will engage with written interpretations in order to support their reading comprehension, and their ability to engage with a text. The history department will facilitate lessons with a positive climate for learning in which students will feel safe to contribute and develop their knowledge. In keeping with the subject they will improve their knowledge of the experiences of others, as well as the factors that have shaped the world around them, allowing them to leave the school as well rounded and informed individuals. Our curriculum is built around core knowledge and lessons are delivered in a way which allows students to engage with the core knowledge in order to know and remember more, whilst providing the facilitating knowledge to know and remember more in a wider context. By studying the history curriculum we have designed, students will be given the tools and knowledge required to appreciate and celebrate the diversity and history of the world they live in. 

What is our intent to assess how well students access the curriculum and how the school intends to adapt the curriculum to close gaps in knowledge?

To ensure any gaps in prior or new knowledge are quickly identified, we check progress frequently through a range of assessment opportunities, from lesson-by-lesson declarative knowledge tests, end of topic tests that assess knowledge retention and application, to more cumulative common assessments that assess students’ ability to remember and apply knowledge in a range of contexts.  The information from these assessments are used to adapt the curriculums intending to quickly close gaps in knowledge and keep students on track to achieve at our ambitious academic flightpaths.

The curriculum we intend to deliver to students at each Key Stage:

At KS3 we intend to deliver a curriculum which is wide ranging, diverse and allows students to understand the history of Britain within the context of the world. Students will begin their journey by learning about the key skills of an historian within the context of early migration to Britain, developing and consolidating students' knowledge pre-1066. Students will then build on this knowledge by learning about the Norman Conquest, whilst also looking at the development of the Kingdoms of the Middle East and Africa. Following this students will learn about the power of the monarchy, learning about the magna carta whilst also comparing British monarchs with monarchies in other countries. Students will then begin to learn about Tudor Britain, which will focus on religious change and the reformation, and will allow students to understand the process by which worldwide trade and exploration began to be a focus for Britain. Students will then look at the Stuart Era and the restoration of the monarchy, whilst exploring the way in which religious and political conflict affected the development of England. Up to this point students will have learned about the development of church and state from 1066 to 1745. They will then begin to look at ideas, political power industry and empire, beginning with a focus on Empire. They will understand what an empire is, and why an empire was desirable for countries, and they will explore the impact and development of the British Empire, not only on Britain, but also on other countries around the world. Students will move on to learn about the Transatlantic slave trade, and the causes and consequences of this. Following this, students will begin to look at the industrial revolution in which they will understand the transition from domestic to commercial production whilst also exploring the development of living conditions in Britain and the impact industrialisation had on Britain's relationship with the rest of the world. Moving into the 20th Century, students will look at challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world, beginning with causes and consequences of the First World War, looking at the factors that made it a global war. During a study of the inter-war years, students will learn about women's suffrage, as well as the changing political situation in Europe, and the rise of dictatorships. A study of World War two will give students an understanding of key turning points, and how events can have wide ranging consequences. Students will also compare the home fronts of countries involved to explore the impact of war on civilians. Students will then look at the Civil Rights Movement, and explore the journey towards equality. This will also be an opportunity to compare the experiences of different peoples and groups in other countries on their journey towards civil rights. A study of the Holocaust will give students an understanding of the atrocities that took place during this period as well as an understanding of groups that fought back against persecution. Students will undertake a study of mediaeval medicine in which they will compare medical understanding of different cultures during the mediaeval period so that they can compare this with other time periods.

At KS4 Students will begin by studying medicine through time. They will explore the impact of individuals and institutions on the development of medicine. Students will look at progress and change over time, and develop an understanding of how progress in different areas impacted the development of medical understanding on technology. They will explore the declining power of the church, and the impact of improving technology on medical progress. Students will then learn about Anglo-Saxon England, and the Norman Invasion. They will analyse the process of Normanisation on England, looking at Williams’ consolidation of power as well as the changing face of England. Students will then move onto 20th Century research learning about the troubled superpowers of the Cold War. This will involve the study of contrasting political ideologies as well as the impact of the cold war on political and technological development. Students will focus on understanding cause and consequence as well as the importance of key events. Students will then begin their study of the collapse of the Weimar government and the rise of the Nazi party. They will look at the way in which the Nazi party were able to take and then consolidate power as well as developing their understanding of historical interpretations and the factors that shape them. 

How does the co-curriculum enhance the curriculum?

During their time at Bridgemary students will be given many opportunities to develop their co-curricular knowledge as well as being able to experience cultural capital in multiple forms. Students will be given the opportunity to explore the historic dockyard, an area which shaped the south coast and has a significant impact on the place in which they live to this day. Students will also be able to explore recommended reading, watching and listening in order to extend their knowledge beyond the curriculum and support their natural curiosity of the subject.