History

 

Key Stage 3   |    Key Stage 4   |    Key Stage 5

National Curriculum

The Ecclesbourne School follows the 3 Year National Curriculum

A high-quality history education will help students gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire students’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip students to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps students to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Aims:
The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all students:

  • know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
  • know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
  • gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
  • understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
  • understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
  • gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales

Curriculum Intent

The intent of the History curriculum is to ensure that all student know and understand the history of the British Isles as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. Students will know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind. Students gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’. Students will understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses. Students will understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed. Students will gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Students extend and deepen their chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, so that it provides a well-informed context for wider learning. Students identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends within periods and over long arcs of time. They use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways. They should pursue historically valid enquiries including some they have framed themselves, and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response. They should understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.

 

Course Assessment

Grade Assessment Detail
9 Students start with a judgement that runs through their work, with each section reflecting this judgement and conclusion mirroring the introduction. Facts, figures, names and dates are deployed to support arguments and weigh ideas by comparing and evaluating them throughout. Students will support and challenge source material within its context and afterward. They will explicitly refer to utility and evaluate material through discrimination. There may still be areas that are irrelevant but the overall impression is convincing.
8 Students will use specific and detailed knowldge in a clear structure to reach a well-supported judgement. A debate will be created that compares ideas an views with facts, statistics and evaluation. Students may make mistakes but their argument will be well developed with analysis and evaluation throughout. Students will analyse source material in the light of the interpretation it represents and will weigh it in therms of utility and reliability to answer specific questions. Students will routinely exercise discrimination in their choice of quotes though they may not always be entirely convincing.
7 Students’ essays and answers will analyse the information provided, using facts effectively to support arguments and challenge points of view. Students will compare ideas and reach an evaluative conclusion. Students analyse and evaluate source material in its context, using the provenance, to assess utility and reliability but only explain when it helps answer the question. Students may still make mistakes but it is clear they are using the sources carefully and with discrimination.
6 Students will make very few factual errors and organise answers into a proper essay. Students will analyse more than one side of a debate and there will evaluation of ideas in places. Students use sources as evidence rather than as information all the time, comparing and contrasting them with each other and with prior knowledge. Students can link interpretations to what is being studied and explain them fully with some analysis on how to use them.
5 Most of the names, dates and statistics will be accurate and relevant to support a clear argument in paragraphs. Students will cover more than one side of a question, analysing for most of their answer and evaluating in conclusions. Students will routinely evaluate sources for utility by using their provenance before using their content to support answers. When looking at reliability, students may not be entirely relevant. Students will be able to explain why people have different views and how they are created, you can use these views to assess other ideas and questions.
4 Students use paragraphs well and logically with accurate and relevant names, dates and statistics. Students will have an overall argument, and a judgement, that is linked to the question, potentially covering two sides. Students will analyse. Students will evaluate source material using provenance – looking at utility for the most part, quoting them to answer questions. Students will be able to explain why different views exist and will understand how, but may not be able to properly support this yet.
3 Students use paragraphs to make a point and use specific names and dates and facts with some mistakes. Students make mostly valid and correct judgements based on the question that are explained. Students will focus on what sources say to answer a question but will try to use their provenance to work out if they are reliable or useful. Students will try to explain how and why different people have different views of History and will be valid but without analysis.
2 Students use full sentences and paragraphs with names and dates, making some mistakes but not many. Students make valid judgements and reach a conclusion and try to explain themselves. Students will quote from and explain what sources say to answer a question. Students can name and identify different views by different people but can’t explain them yet.
1 Students use full sentences and will use names and dates, though you’ll make mistakes. Students make valid suggestions without detail but link to what is asked, ‘telling the story’. Students may state whether sources are reliable but will still just use them for information. Students understand different groups of people see History in different ways but not how or why.

If you have any questions or queries relating to the History curriculum please email headofhumanities@ecclesbourne.derbyshire.sch.uk for more information.