Curriculum Intent

Key Stage 3

We believe that History should be transformative, engaging, useful and enjoyable. Our Key Stage Three History course will allow students to access broad sweeps of the changing human past, by focusing them on some key stories to find the ‘overview lurking in depth’. We aim to develop our historians as readers, thinkers, and writers, whilst also helping them prepare for the future by highlighting essential themes such as changing technologies and struggles for power.

Our lessons will reflect the diversity of human stories, using British history as an anchor, but also giving weight to a diverse, often hidden past. Above all, our KS3 course will empower students to ask questions and be confident in their ability to build stories and make judgements.

Key Stage 4

Our GCSE course is innovative and challenging. It builds upon our KS3 course in its breadth and diversity. The study units have been carefully chosen to reflect the narrative frameworks and understandings created in KS3, so that students are able to access the highest grades. The inclusion of units on Migration to Britain and the Mughal Empire reflect our intention to broaden our students’ awareness of the complexity and diversity of the human past. More traditional units reflect important periods in British and European history. Our History Around Us study of London’s Bankside challenges students to develop a sense of period and engage with the physical environment as a source of historical evidence. Our teaching reflects our ambition for GCSE History students to be confident and independent scholars.

Key Stage 5

Our A Level courses challenge students to develop their intellectual and academic confidence through the exploration of two key stories in the modern world: the broad history of America and its place in the world, and Britain after World War Two. These two courses combined provided students with a solid foundation from which to understand the Western world. The Individual Assignment gives students the freedom to focus on other stories, so that they can further develop their skills as researchers and writers in ways that will equip them well for life after AHS.

Impact

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3, History students take a series of discrete assessments. This are primarily written responses to over- arching enquiry questions such as ‘Why did Transatlantic Slavery decline?’ or ‘How has Ancient Greece shaped our world?’. These provide an opportunity for students to build an overall judgement whilst making good use of retained knowledge. They are also a chance for students to develop the craft of historical writing, particularly in the context of the scholarship that they have been introduced to in their preparatory lessons. Sometimes, assessments will consist of both a written piece and a short knowledge test, or simply a longer knowledge test to check retention of key content.

Currently all students receive a judgement for each assessment relating to whether they are working ‘towards’, ‘at’ or ‘beyond’ our departmental standard. This standard is a broad measure of progress towards an ‘average’ GCSE grade in History, which currently is around a Grade 7.5. These judgements are supported by exemplar material and explained in the assessment preparation.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4, students complete a range of exam questions, all stemming from OCR materials and supported by exemplars, mark schemes and other forms of support. These are marked to exam standards and feedback is in the form of marks and targets relating to key assessment objectives and 2nd order concepts. Students also complete more formal exams in years 10 and 11.

Depending on circumstance, these exam questions may be done as homework assignments, or in class as timed pieces. Various methods of support are used from writing frames to collaborative planning, and students in year 11 are less likely to be scaffolded in this way.

Key Stage 5

At Key Stage 5, students complete a range of exam questions, most stemming from AQA materials and supported by exemplars, mark schemes and other forms of support. These are marked to exam standards and feedback is in the form of marks and targets relating to key assessment objectives. Students also complete more formal exams in years 12 and 13.

Depending on circumstance, these exam questions may be done as homework assignments, or in class as timed pieces. Various methods of support are used from writing frames to collaborative planning, and students in year 13 are less likely to be scaffolded in this way.

Students also complete a Non-Examined Assessment piece, which consists of an essay of around 4000 words relating to an aspect of history beyond the taught units. Students research, plan and write this piece with the guidance of their teachers, but it is ultimately an individual piece.