History

The purpose of the AGFS history curriculum is:

• To promote ambition by ensuring scholars master knowledge on a range of scales of the past 1,000 years of British history alongside global history studies to create a coherent picture of the past ‘helping us to interpret all that we hear, see and read around us’ (Counsell, 2021: 154).
• To develop growth by ensuring scholars critically analyse information in the form of primary and contemporary sources and historical interpretations to understand to build an awareness of the discipline of history; pupils must be aware that all accounts of the past involve conscious and unconscious choices and therefore all accounts of the past carry inherent messages.
• To encourage fellowship by understanding more of our identity and the identity of others to know that we have more in common with each other than different. Scholars will build tolerance through their understanding of the variety of ways different people, at different times, from different societies have lived their lives.
• To cultivate scholarship by engaging with authentic historiography, primary, and contemporary source material with a focus on extended writing.

The History curriculum is organised by the power standards. These standards reflect the essence of the subject as an academic discipline and reflect the strands of each discipline that must be developed to achieve mastery. These threads are cross-referenced against the KS3 national curriculum, GCSE, A Level specification and degree courses at Russell Group universities to ensure that scholars’ experience of the subject is as broad and as academically rigorous as possible.

The History power standards are: 

• Stories- PS4 and PS5
• Sources- PS3 and PS5
• Scholarship- PS2 and PS5
• Second order concepts- PS1, PS5 and PS6

1. PS1- explain the significance of events
2. PS2- Other historians’ interpretations are analysed
3. PS3- Utilise primary and contemporary sources
4. PS4- Recall a wide range of factual and specific detail
5. PS5- Communicate well-supported judgements
6. PS6- Explain cause and consequence, change and continuity and similarity and difference

All Year 7 subjects Next Year 7 Subject - Geography

All Year 8 subjects Next Year 8 Subject - Geography

All Year 9 subjects Next Year 9 Subject - Geography

All Year 10 subjects Next Year 10 Subject - Geography

All Year 11 subjects Next Year 11 Subject - Geography

Recommended websites/ online platforms:    

• BBC Bitesize KS3 and KS4
• Seneca KS3 and KS4
• Massolit

Recommended activities to complete with your child: 

• Core knowledge quizzing
• For KS3, taking your child to one of the following free museums in London:
  • The V&A
  • The Natural History Museum
  • Museum of London
  • The Imperial War Museum and the Holocaust Exhibition
• For KS4, visiting the replica of the Golden Hind and the Globe on Southbank 

Scholars receive verbal, self and peer feedback every lesson through:

• Whole class feedback on common misconceptions in the read now, recall now activities and during daily review.
• Responses to whole class checking for understanding activities, such as hand signal responses, ‘heads down’ and mini whiteboard tasks. 
• Teacher intentional monitoring during deliberate practice activities. 

Scholars are expected to respond in the moment to this feedback to show they can correct errors and improve their knowledge and understanding. 

Scholars receive written teacher feedback after each checkpoint. Scholars complete checkpoint tasks independently so teachers can review what they know and can do. Checkpoints in History consist of:

• Section A: Knowledge questions 
• Section B: Skill assessment

Written feedback from checkpoints will consist of:

• A score for section A and section B.
• Celebration of what has gone well. 
• Identification of a high leverage target. 

Scholars will complete a refinement task to show their understanding of the target and to demonstrate their capacity to improve their work. This could be achieved through redrafting a section of their work or attempting a similar task

Success in History can lead to careers in:

• Politics
• Journalism
• Writing
• Archaeology
• Law
• Government
• The Police
• The Media

Through the study of History, scholars will be exposed to a range of culturally enriching knowledge and experiences.

Cultural capital within the curriculum:

History teaches scholars about the world. Different aspects of the human past, including the political, economic, social, cultural (including artistic and intellectual), religious, military and environmental, give scholars a sense of their identity and their place in the world. The teaching of local, national and global history gives scholars the understanding of the progress made by the human race so far and direction of travel to continue to move forward as a civilisation.

History's contribution to Drop Down Days and the trips and visits programme:

• Annual visit to a London museum
• Notting Hill Walking Tour
• Annual Berlin trip