History Curriculum Intent

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4. Curriculum Intent

At the Suthers School we want to create inquisitive historians who have a deep and interleaved knowledge that allows them to engage with confidence in discussions and reach balanced judicious opinions. History creates the opportunities for students to develop academic rigour to utilise the core school principles to unlock their full potential. History is interwoven into everyday life and the study of history allows students to develop skills they can utilise in other subjects as well as having a societal application. The history curriculum for students at The Suthers School allows them to achieve highly in History regardless of their ability level and always be challenged. We seek to foster student’s confidence to work independent, promoting self-motivation and utilisation of time management skills – encouraging students to complete further research outside of the learning space through practice learning projects.

The KS3 History curriculum at The Suthers School is one that is designed to be engaging, varied, relevant to pupils’ everyday lives and heritage as well as equipping them with the necessary skills to succeed beyond the academic parameters of the education system. The curriculum is created to develop a thirst for learning that extends beyond the classroom and practice learning. The aim is to provide students with an understating of how history has both shaped and transformed the 21st Century and British Values. We set out to explore wider global History to extend students understanding of different cultures and significant events so they can better understand their place in the world and promote tolerance and understanding across both KS3 and KS4. This helps them understand their social responsibility and how to formulate opinions on cultural, moral and ethical issues.

We help students gain confidence in the expected skills interwoven in the National Curriculum such as: chronology, causation, interpretation, judgement and significance. Alongside these key history skills students also develop literacy, oracy, research skills as well as the ability to build their own intricate connections across historical events. Although the history curriculum is designed to reflect the demands of the National Curriculum it is also informed by educational research, such as the ‘Curriculum as a Boxset’ analogy. This is reflected in how students are introduced to key characters, events and developments of the past with the connection across periods and historical themes joining together for a fuller picture. One way this is done is by teaching a grand narrative, whilst balancing this with meaningful opportunities to explore individual and local stories in depth developing student’s appreciation of legacy and diversity the past offers. In the classroom we promote a culture of excellence with students developing analytical and evaluation skills, utilising fully guided instruction. For historians’ sources and interpretations are key, throughout the curriculum students are exposed to contemporary source material to effectively challenge their skills learnt, as well as ensuring history comes alive in all units of study. Within the classroom we ensure the higher order concepts are taught, and eventually students can use the higher order concepts on their own with minimal support.

Students experience skilful instruction by subject experts who simultaneously challenge and support them through their learning journey. With extended writing and research being central to becoming an effective historian, we challenge students to aspire to a high level of written communication throughout all key stages. We have established a trusting learning environment where students embrace the intellectual demands placed on them and are willing to take risks, safe in the knowledge that making mistakes is part of the learning process. To ensure students make the best possible progress lessons are shaped for individual classes as well as constant feedback being used through low stakes questioning as part of our review each lesson, ensuring misconceptions are caught and corrected.

To access the curriculum plans for each year group, please use the links at the side of this page.

If a year group link is not available you can contact our History Team at contact@suthersschool.co.uk where they will get back to you with further information.