History

Welcome to the History Department.

At Dormston School, we believe that History is an essential subject for the development of our young adults. History enables us to answer important questions such as ‘Where do I come from?’, ‘How did history lead us to here?’, and ‘Where do we go from here?’. As a department we are passionate about the historical research we do and hope to provide an exciting, innovative and challenging curriculum so that all students can achieve their academic potential, develop a sense of humanity and foster a life-long love of history. Throughout their history lessons students will build their historical knowledge, develop key writing skills, and analyse historical scholarship and sources in order to equip them with understandings about how the past is constructed and the workings of the modern world.

KS3

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum aims to provide students with a broad historical context of events in Britain and around the world. Throughout Key Stage 3 students will engage with historical scholarship to examine what historians have said about certain periods and challenge these views through the analysis of historical sources. Students in Year 7 will study Anglo-Saxon England through to the Tudor dynasty. In Year 8, students will focus on the Early Modern period through to impact of World War One. Our Year 9 students study Nazi Germany and post-war developments.

Curriculum

Year 7:

What was happening in England before 1066?

Did the Normans Bring a ‘Truckload of Trouble’ to England in 1066?
In what ways was Hugh Trevor Roper wrong about African History?
Peasant’s Revolt vs Black Death: Which caused more upheaval to medieval people?
Why did Henry VIII split with Rome?
How was the world opening up to Elizabeth I and her people?
Why were the King and Parliament nearly blown up in 1605?

Year 8:

Why did England go to war with itself in the 1600s?
How was Britain ‘turned upside down’ in the 17^th century?
In what ways did the Industrial Revolution change Britain?
What did colonialism look like in the British Empire?
Why was slavery abolished in 1833?
Why did the world go to war in 1914?
How similar were people’s experiences of World War One?

Year 9:

Recap Unit – What were the causes and consequences of World War One?

How did the 1920s and 1930s set Germany on the road to fascism?
What were the key turning points of World War Two?
What was the Holocaust and why did it happen?
How did tensions rise and fall during the Cold War?
How did different people’s lives change in Britain after 1945?
How should we remember migration to Britain after 1945?

KS4

We follow the OCR History B exam specification and teach the following units:

Paper 1: History Around Us (case study on Himley Hall)
Paper 2: Crime and Punishment 1250 – Present; Elizabethan England 1580-1603
Paper 3: Living Under Nazi Rule 1933-45; The Making of America 1789-1900

How we assess

In the History department, we assess the learning of pupils in two different, but over-lapping, layers.

Formative Assessment: This is on-going, ungraded and focusses on smaller-chunks of our curriculum. Examples may include: quizzes, multiple choice questions, verbal questioning, live marking, comprehension tasks. This helps us to identify gaps in student knowledge as well as overall strengths and weaknesses in order to adapt teaching to help pupils progress.
Summative Assessment: These are bespoke assessments to each unit’s focus and will take place at the end of the unit. We aim to assess knowledge, interpretation and source analysis as well as extended writing abilities in these. We also have baseline assessments in Year 7 as well as June assessments for each year group to assess the year’s studies.

Subject specific websites to support independent learning and revision

BBC Bitesize (For KS4, please use the ‘OCR History B’ section)
Seneca Learning
History Learning Site
Dormston History YouTube Channel (KS4)
Carousel Learning – Revision tool set by class teachers

Trips & Visits

All trips have been subject to COVID restrictions over the past couple of years.

In Year 11 we have taken students to Berlin and Krakow to deepen student understanding of what life was like living under Nazi rule.
We are also planning a Year 10 trip to London to explore the impact of the Elizabethan period on the city, as well as its role in crime and punishment.
We are exploring potential trips in KS3 that would support students’ understanding of the curriculum.