History
History Teaching Staff
- Mr E Peel – Curriculum Leader
- Miss L Bucke – Assistant Vice Principal
Miss L Lodder
- Mr J Mead
Why History is important
History is a subject rich in powerful knowledge. It provides coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. History helps students to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of today.
History lessons are often about looking at familiar stories from unfamiliar perspectives and encouraging students curiosity about the world around them.
- Provides students with a broad range of historical knowledge and understanding, including a sense of development over time, and an appreciation of the culture and attitudes of societies other than our own.
- Gives students power over their own knowledge allowing them to evaluate critically the significance and utility of evidence from contemporary sources and the interpretations of historians.
- Enables students to develop independent opinions and articulate them in arguments that are well-written, coherently organised and effectively supported by relevant evidence.
- Allows students to undertake self-directed learning, making the most effective use of time and resources, and increasingly defining one’s own questions and goals.
History at Wey Valley Academy aims to equip our students with the knowledge and skills required to become well-rounded individuals. Our curriculum is structured to nurture a love of History through the development of historical skills and depth of knowledge. Students develop skills including:
- Using evidence
- Analysing interpretations
- Historical significance
- Change and continuity
- Cause and consequence
Students study a wide range of historical periods and places and perspectives. This enables students to make connections and comparisons over time.
Teaching and learning in History
Our teaching and learning at Wey Valley Academy is underpinned by our ‘Fundamentals’. These ensure that all students have equitable access to the curriculum and that all students are being helped to succeed.
Students work in booklets which present the key ideas in an accessible format and a range of increasingly challenging tasks to help develop their understanding of the topic. The booklets mean that all students have all the relevant information they need in front of them, allowing them to focus on higher level thinking skills in the lesson.
KS3 Curriculum
The curriculum at Key Stage 3 is chronological in approach from the Middle Ages in Year 7 to the Twentieth Century in Year 9. We have designed the curriculum to reflect the National Curriculum and recent academic developments in the subject. Throughout Key Stage 3, students will learn about significant themes in British history and the wider world including a rich variety of voices and narratives from the famous to the less well known.
As well as finding out about the past, students will develop their historical skills by looking at primary sources material and the work of academic historians.
KS4 Curriculum
Key Stage 4
We follow the Edexcel GCSE History course. At the end of Year 11, students are examined on three papers:
Paper 1 – Thematic study and historic environment
- Crime and Punishment, c1000-present
- Whitechapel, c1870-c1900: crime, policing and the inner city
Paper 2 – Period study and British depth study
- Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991
- Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060-1088
Paper 3 – Modern depth study
- Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-1939
This course represent a broad and diverse study of the history of Britain and the wider world. The skills students develop will support progression to further study at A-level, but are also applicable in many other careers and pathways.
Extra-Curricular Activities
To further develop capital culture, History offers students a range of experiences outside of the classroom environment. These opportunities are designed to develop students’ learning experience and their cultural understanding of the world around them. Past experiences have included a GCSE trip to London, where students have the opportunity to relive the streets of Victorian London and key elements of the Crime and Punishment topic in the London Dungeons and the London Eye providing students with awareness of some of the key Historical sites the capital city has.
KS3 students have had the opportunity to visit Poole’s Lighthouse theatre to experience Horrible Histories come to life and a visit to Southampton Theatre gave students the opportunity to see War Horse come to life and develop their understanding of some of the hardships faced by people of Britain during WW1.
In addition to out-of-school activities, the History Department runs a History ‘Fun Club’ for those students with a real passion for the subject. These students have undergone challenges and games relating to specific periods of History.