History
Curriculum intent
At Hayes School, our commitment is to provide moments of joy, support pupils to thrive beyond our gates, and nurture community and character through a curriculum that is conceptual, inclusive and responsive. Our values — kindness, endeavour, inclusivity and responsibility — shape every aspect of this curriculum. They ensure that every pupil, particularly the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, is known, supported and challenged to achieve highly and to flourish in school and beyond.
Purpose
Who does not love a good story? A tale of intrigue where the plot can twist and turn in ways that were not obvious at the start. History is a messy, complex study of humans whose decisions, personalities and flaws have helped shape our world today. Our job as a History department is to help students navigate this difficult and sometimes confusing path. As a History department, we believe that by students critically engaging with evidence from a wide range of sources they can gain an understanding of how individuals and events have been represented in the past and explore the reasons why and where our views about the world have come from. We want students to have access to a wide-ranging curriculum that embeds opportunities for us to discuss challenging concepts and ideas and to develop them as critical thinkers who will continue to ask questions long after the story has ended.
Specification Information
GCSE Edexcel Pearson History
A Level Edexcel Pearson History
Academic end points |
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| Year 7 | By the end of year 7 students will have started to engage in historical enquiry focusing on the Ancient and Medieval Britain period exploring the different institutions that held power (monarchy, the church) and how they used this power. They will begin to be curious and ask questions about the past. They will start to use key historical terms in their writing. They will have developed a foundational understanding of how the past has been interpreted and how and why interpretations about a particular event may differ. They can start to critically investigate primary source material, looking at the content, origin and nature of the source in order to reach supported conclusions. They are able to support the source with their own knowledge expanding on key quotes. They will be able to use evidence from a range of sources in order to reach well-reasoned judgements about the past. The overall theme of Yr7 is Power and Authority; the students will consider the power and authority of the two key institutions within society (King and Church) in England between the Medieval period to the Stuarts. They will look at how this relationship developed over time and why tension may have increased between the King and the Church. |
| Year 8 | By the end of year 8 students will have continued to engage in historical enquiry focusing on how and why different societies changed politically, socially and economically in the 17th to 19th centuries. They will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the other within this period and their experiences. They will continue to be curious and ask questions about the past. They have continued to use historical terms in their writing and do this with increased accuracy. They will have continued to develop their understanding of how the past has been interpreted through the unit of the British empire and how and why different interpretations can be supported by specific own knowledge in order to reach their own reasoned conclusions about the validity of these views. They continue to critically investigate primary source material, looking at the content, origin and nature of the source in order to evaluate its validity. They are able to explain and support the source with their own knowledge expanding on key quotes. They will be able to use evidence from a range of sources making links between prior learning in order to reach well-reasoned and supported judgements about the past. The overall theme of year 8 is The Other this is a group that are on the fringes of the society and how they are treated and the actions they take and how this can bring about massive change. |
| Year 9 | By the end of year 9 students will confidently engage in historical enquiry focusing on the causes and course of modern conflict. Looking at what motivates different groups and individuals to fight and how successful their actions may be. They will be able to draw links between different units in order to build an understanding of how the past has a direct link to events taking place today. They will frequently ask questions about the past. They confidently and frequently use precise historical terms in their writing. They have continued to embed their understanding of how the past has been interpreted and how different interpretations can be supported by a higher frequency of specific own knowledge. They will be able to evaluate the interpretations in order to reach their own reasoned conclusions about the validity of these views. They are able to confidently critically investigate primary source material, looking at the content, origin and nature of the source in order to evaluate its validity. They are able to explain, support or challenge the source with their specific own knowledge expanding on key quotes. They will be able to confidently use and evaluate evidence from a range of sources and draw on prior learning in order to make links between the evidence and use this to reach well-substantiated judgements about the past. The overall theme of yr9 is ‘Why we fight’ this is explored in the context of the Civil rights movement in the USA and Britain in the 1950s/60s, in WW1, the suffragettes movement and why women fought for the vote. We also look at the interwar period and why countries were prepared to fight again in WW2, then the Holocaust and why it is important to fight against prejudice and racism and finally the Arab Israeli conflict and why this conflict started. |
| Year 10 | By the end of year 10 students will have completed their first year of GCSE History and will have explored how the causes of disease, preventions and treatments have changed over time. They will be able to explain the different factors that have enabled change and be able to analyse the extent and pace of the change with the three key areas of cause, prevention and treatments. Students will have also built on their source analysis skills from KS3 to critically investigate primary source material from the British section of the Western Front, looking at the content, origin and nature of various source in order to evaluate its validity. They will have explored the key events that affected Germany after WW1 and be able to show an understanding of how and why Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to come to power and establish a dictatorship within Germany. They will build on their knowledge and understanding of how Weimar and Nazi Germany has been interpreted and will be able to support the different interpretations with specific own knowledge. They will be able to evaluate these interpretations in order to reach their own reasoned conclusions about the validity of these views. |
| Year 11 | By the end of year 11 students will have completed their second year of GCSE History and will have explored how the causes of the Cold War, the key events within the Cold War and finally how the Cold War ended. After finishing the Cold War they will begin the final unit, which is on Early Elizabethan England and students will explore the key issues that affected Elizabeth I when she became queen and how she resolved these issues during her early reign. |
| Year 12 | By the end of year 12 students will have engaged with how the same ideology (communism) has been introduced and developed within two different countries, developing their ability to understand how and why an ideology has changed over time and the significance of key individuals and events in shaping this. They are able to make substantiated judgement using specific knowledge. They can critically analyse both primary and secondary sources in order to make valid historical claims that relate to specific enquiries. They are able to refer to the context of the time period in order to expand support or challenge the claims that are being made. They will then be able to reach well-informed judgements about the source material. They will have developed their understanding of the different interpretations that have been formed about the fall of the USSR. They will be able to use their understanding of the historical context in order to reach their own substantiated conclusions about the validity of these different interpretations |
| Year 13 | By the end of year 13 students will have engaged fully in how the relationship between Britain and Ireland has developed over time and be able to think critically about how and why the relationship has changed. They are able to draw on a range of sources to reach fully substantiated judgements about why and how the notion of Irish nationalism and the response of the British government have changed over time. They can continue to critically analyse primary sources in order to make valid historical claims that relate to specific enquiries. They are able to refer to the context of the time period in order to expand support and challenge the claims that are being made. They will then be able to reach well-informed judgements about the source material. They will have built on their understanding of the different interpretations that have been formed about the past. They will have conducted their own independent research into a historical event that has multiple interpretations and use a wide variety of sources in order to reach their own substantiated conclusions about the validity of the different interpretations. |
Click here to visualise the History learner journey
