History

History fires pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

It is important that pupils understand the chronological framework of the past, that will enable them to make sense of the new knowledge they acquire.

There is a determined effort for pupils of all backgrounds to feel included through the curriculum in history, both through the exploration of history through numerous lenses, and through tracking the interconnected nature of events and individuals’ stories from around the world.

Development in understanding of disciplinary concepts in a spiralled format is central to progress in history at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar in KS3, in order that pupils are armed with the means to confidently grapple with substantive knowledge of the past. These include the ability for students to understand the process of change and how to effectively analyse contemporary source material, whilst studying interpretations of history helps pupils to understand that history is a construct and that it can be seen from more than one perspective.

It is important pupils understand both that events in history are unique and deserve to be studied in their own right, whilst also recognising that studying the past can also help us to draw links with events in our present.

It is a fundamental aim of the department that history at KS3 prepares students for their future lives. This includes readying them for further study of the subject at GCSE, together with equipping them as British citizens and students of the world with curiosity, a strong moral compass and with the ability to ask pertinent questions and seek truths based in evidence. 

Key concepts in History at KS3

1. Change and continuity

Identifying and explaining change and continuity within and across periods of history. This skill links to an understanding of chronology and leads students to being able to reach comprehensive judgements about different periods and societies.

2. Cause and consequence

Analysing and explaining the reasons for, and results of, historical events, situations and changes.

3. Similarity and difference

Analysing and explaining the extent to which historical events can be seen as similar or different, by exploring their causes, features and effects.

4. Evidential understanding

Identify, select and use a range of historical sources, including textual, visual and oral sources,

artefacts and the historic environment. Evaluate the sources in order to reach reasoned conclusions.

5. Historical interpretation

Understanding how historians and others form interpretations. Understanding why historians and others have interpreted events, people and situations in different ways through a range of media. Evaluating a range of interpretations of the past to assess their validity.
 

6. Significance

Considering the significance of events, people and developments in their historical context and in the present day.

      Key themes within the History at KS3

Power
If we are to understand and make sense of political power today we need to know how we got here over the last thousand years or so.

Beliefs
Considering the views of people related to religion, race and gender, among other areas.

International encounters
Understanding the development of empire, trade and conflict over time.

‘Ordinary’ lives
It is important to know about this aspect of social history AND to know about the diversity that existed in this areas.

Topics of study

Year 7

• An Introduction to Studying History
• The Dark Ages and the Silk Roads
• 1066
• The Norman Conquest
• Medieval Rulers
• The Black Death

Year 8

• The ‘Age of Exploration’.
• Elizabethan England
• The Civil War
• Transatlantic slave trade
• Abolition of the slave trade
• Investigating revolutions

Year 9

• The Outbreak of WW1
• Forgotten Armies of WW1
• The Impact of the First World War
• London and the Second World War
• Genocide in the Twentieth Century
• Britain after WW2

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Key Stage 4 (AQA)

Students will learn about two very diverse topics in Year 10. The first topic on Germany, 1890-1945, studied in the autumn term, is an in-depth world study. This period of study focuses on the development of Germany during a turbulent half century of change. It was a period of democracy and dictatorship – the development and collapse of democracy and the rise and fall of Nazism. Students will study the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of these two developments and the role ideas played in influencing change. They will also look at the role of key individuals and groups in shaping change and the impact the developments had on them.

In the spring and summer terms, students shift focus to look at a thematic study, focused on political change in Britain from 1170 up to the present day. This will enable students to gain an understanding of the development of the relationship between the citizen and the state in Britain over a long period of time. It considers the causes, scale, nature and consequences of protest to that relationship. By charting the journey from feudalism and serfdom to democracy and equality, it reveals how, in different periods, the state responds to challenges to its authority and their impact. It allows students to construct an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of the citizen. Students will have the opportunity to see how ideas, events or developments in the wider world have affected the course of Britain's political development and will promote the notion that ideas of authority, challenge and rights did not develop in isolation, but these developments should be seen in terms of how they affected Britain and British people.

In Year 11 students have to learn two additional topics. The first allows students to study in-depth a very eventful period in British History, the restoration of the monarchy. The study will focus on the major aspects of Charles II’s reign considered from economic, religious, political, social and cultural standpoints of this period and arising contemporary and historical controversies.

The second is a more broadly focused, wider, world-depth study that enables students to understand the complex and diverse interests of different states and individuals and the ideologies they represent. It considers revolutionary movements during this time. It focuses on the causes and events of the Cold War and seeks to show how and why conflict occurred and why the tensions which arose during the Cold War proved difficult to solve. This study also considers the role of key individuals and groups in shaping change and how they were affected by and influenced international relations.

Key Stage 5 - History (AQA)

Across Year 12 and 13 the course consists of two units of study, one focussing on breadth of knowledge (Unit 1), ‘Tsarist Russia and the Soviet State, 1855-1964’, the other depth of knowledge (Unit 2), ‘The English Revolution, 1625-60’.

In Year 12, Unit 1 charts the collapse of Russia’s autocratic rule as well as the long- and short-term reasons for the 1917 revolution.

Whilst in Year 12, Unit 2 begins analysing the long- and short-term reasons for the ‘Failure of Absolutism’ as the country edged towards civil war 1625-42.

Both units continue chronologically through to Year 13.

Unit 1 concludes, by assessing the workings of the Soviet state 1917-64 primarily focussing on its successes and failures post revolution.

In the second part of the Unit 2 course, the changeable constitutional state of the English nation is explained between 1642 and 1660. The coursework component also applies in Year 13 and will focus on the establishment and evolution of the German state in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Throughout the A-level course, essay writing skills and an ability to individually assess historical information objectively feature prominently.

The History and Politics Department has offered a range of extra-curricular opportunities, from political debating clubs to trips to local, national and European historical sites to support understanding of the curriculum.

Key Stage 3

Typically, in past years, Year 7 students have travelled to Medieval historic sites in Canterbury and Rochester whilst Year 9 student have adventured to the sites of the battlefields of France and Belgium to experience the conditions for soldiers on the battlefields of World War One.  

Key Stage 4

In Year 11, we are planning to see historic environments relevant to the Restoration topic of study, this year will be Greenwich Observatory.

Key Stage 5

In recent years, A-Level History students have also been given the chance to go to Berlin to immerse themselves in German cultural sites in order to support the writing of their coursework.

Meanwhile, A-level Politics students have travelled up to Westminster to see the complex workings of UK Politics first-hand and have attended debates and lectures focused on issues in UK politics.