History:
Subject Information Overview
Below is a visual overview of the content available on this page. Click the appropriate title to view the relevant section
Curriculum
Area Staff Curriculum
InformationCurriculum
OverviewExam information for GCSE
qualifications in this Subject AreaKnowledge
Organisers
Curriculum Area Staff
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Jack Anderson (CAL History) Sarah Burgess |
Jess Hall Sarah McCabe |
Should you require more information about this subject area please contact:
Name: Mr J Anderson
Position: Curriculum Area Leader
Email: jan@selbyhigh.co.uk
Curriculum Information
Through the history curriculum at Selby High school we allow students to develop a coherent and comprehensive understanding of some of the key historical events of both Britain and the wider world. This knowledge can inspire students to pursue a deeper understanding of the past. Through history we equip students with the necessary skills to pose perceptive questions, critically analyse evidence, evaluate arguments, and develop informed perspectives and judgments. By studying history, students can gain an appreciation of the intricacy of human existence, the dynamics of change, the diversity of cultures, and the interconnections between different social groups. Moreover, history provides students with insight into their own identity and the challenges they face in their contemporary context.
Our curriculum is designed around enquiry questions to ensure all pupils can identify and understand major events, changes and developments in British, European and World history. We cover a range of time periods, themes and ideas that allow students to investigate and communicate their understanding of cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. The curriculum intent for history is centered around developing students' historical skills, which are entwined throughout the curriculum. Pupils will engage with a wide range of sources, including primary and secondary sources, and will learn how to make inferences and evaluate their utility. Through historical interpretation, students will develop the ability to understand, support, challenge, and create their own interpretation of historical events. This approach will encourage critical thinking and provide students with the skills necessary to become active and engaged citizens who can analyse and understand the complexities of our world.
Topics covered in the curriculum include:
- the impact of the Norman invasion
- connections between medieval countries around the world
- revolutions in industry and society in the 18th and 19th centuries in Britain and around the world
- the impact and legacy of the British Empire
- WWI and WWII (including the Holocaust)
History is taught in broadly chronological order with lessons based on second order concepts such as change and continuity, historical significance, cause and consequence, historical interpretations, similarity and difference and sources.
By engaging with a range of historical narratives, students are encouraged to appreciate their place in the world. Content is chosen that reflects local, national and international issues and concerns. For example, through studying the history of 19th century Selby students are able to see the impact of migration and movement of people, the growth of industry, and the response to the poor. Pupils are taught to describe, analyse and explain sources of information including texts, pictures and artefacts. They are encouraged to think about how the past is interpreted using the work of historians, as well as develop their own ideas about significant historical events and people.
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Below is a summary overview of the topics and their content that will be studied in each term by each year group. For more information about each topic, get your child to visit learning journeys and resources on the school online learning platform - Ready Steady Learn.
| Year Group | Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 |
| 7 |
What is History (knowledge prehistory to 1066 and key concepts and skills)
Who had control Middle Ages? Development of Church, state and society in Britain 1066-1509
How did William establish control?
Why invade England in 1066? Who were the contenders to the throne? What happened at the Battle of Stamford Bridge? What happened at the Battle of Hastings? What does the Bayeux Tapestry suggest about Hastings? |
Who had control Middle Ages? Development of Church, state and society in Britain 1066-1509
How did William keep control?
How did William deal with his problems? Why did William build castles? Why did William create the Domesday Book? How did the Feudal System help William to keep control |
Who had control Middle Ages? Development of Church, state and society in Britain 1066-1509
Why did the Church matter to people in the Middle Ages?
What did most Medieval people believe? How important were monasteries? Why did Henry and Becket come to blows? How tolerant were people in Medieval England? |
Wider-world study:
How did the Silk Road Shape our World?
Who travelled on the SilkRoads? How did ideas spread on the Silk Roads? How did death spread on the Silk Roads? How did disease spread on the Silk Roads? |
How did our world view change? Development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745
How did the Tudors change religion in England?
Why did Henry break from Rome? How did Protestantism change religion? Did Elizabeth achieve a ‘Middle way’? |
How did our world view change? Development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745
Was the Elizabethan Period really a ‘Golden Age’?
Why was the Spanish Armada defeated? How did Elizabethans entertain themselves? What did Elizabethans learn? How did Elizabethans deal with the poor? |
| Assessment details |
Cause and consequence / sources
Assessment Point: Mini-assessment - Why did William win the Battle of Hastings |
Change and Continuity
Assessment Point 1: The Norman Conquest |
Significance |
Similarity/Difference & Interpretation
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Change and Continuity
Mini-assessment - How did the Tudors change religion in England? |
Interpretation
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| 8 |
How did our world view change? Development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745
Why was the 17th century described as a ‘World Turned Upside Down’?
Causes of the Civil War, Impact of the Civil War on women, What happened to Charles I, How did Cromwell rule England? |
Did revolution always mean progress? Ideas, political power, industry and empire; Britain 1745-1901
Was the Industrial Revolution ‘Liberty’s Dawn’?
How do interpretations of the Industrial Revolution differ? Work in the factories, work in the mines, how did the Industrial Revolution change family life?
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Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901
How did British people fight for their rights? 1900-1928
How fair was Britain in 1800? Was the Chartist movement a failure? Was the Peterloo Massacre a disaster for the working people? How close did Britain come to revolution in the 19th century? How influential were the Suffragettes? |
Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901
How do the experiences Empire compare in India and Ireland?
What was the British Empire? How the British Empire control India? What impact did Empire have on India? What impact did Empire have on Ireland? What did ‘independence’ look like in Ireland? |
Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901
How did Empire change the way we see ourselves and others?
What did colonisation mean for the people of Africa? Should the Rhodes statue remain standing? What did colonisation mean for the first peoples of Australia? |
Wider-world Study
Slavery, Segregation & Struggle: How did African-Americans strive for equality?
What was the Transatlantic slave trade? Did abolition mean freedom? What were the challenges to integration? What was the significance of the Civil Rights Movement? |
| Assessment details |
Causation / Consequence
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Similarity / Difference & Interpretation
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Causation / Consequence Assessment point 3 |
Similarity / Difference
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Significance
Assessment point 4 |
Significance Change / Continuity Assessment point 5 |
| 9 |
Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
Why did men sign up for the First World War?
Causes of the First World War, how did attitudes towards the war change? How were men recruited? What did the ‘British Army’ really look like?
Who really ‘won’ the First World War?
Was Haig the ‘Butcher of the Somme’? How important was the war at sea? How did the war affect those at home? How did medicine develop in the trenches? How did the war come to an end? |
Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
How did Hitler come to power?
How fair was the Treaty of Versailles? How did the Nazis come to power? How did the Nazis keep control? What did resistance against the Nazis look like? |
Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
What was the key turning point of the Second World War?
Was Dunkirk a military disaster? How did the Battle of Britain affect morale? How did Pearl Harbour change the war? What happened on D-Day? Were the Allies justified in dropping the atomic bomb? |
Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
How could the Holocaust have happened?
Who were the Jews of Europe? How did the Holocaust begin? What was Kristallnacht? What was life like in the ghettos? What was the final solution? |
Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day
How hot did the Cold War get
What were the causes of the Cold War? How did the USA and USSR become superpowers? Why was the Berlin airlift necessary? How was the Vietnam war received at home? How close did the world come to ending? |
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| Assessment details |
Causation / Consequence Significance
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Assessment P2 - Morale & Turning Points of Second World War Significance
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Assessment P3 The Holocaust Causation / Consequence |
Google forms assessment |
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| 10 |
America, 1840-1895: Expansion & Consolidation |
Health and the people: c1000 - Present |
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Expansion
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Conflict
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Consolidation
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Medieval & Renaissance Medicine 1000-1700
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Industrial Medicine 1800-1900
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Modern Medicine 1900-Present
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| Assessment details |
Mini -Assessment |
Assessment 1 |
EoU Assessment |
Google forms assessment |
Assessment |
EoU Assessment |
| 11 |
Conflict & Tension, 1894-1918 |
Norman England 1066-1100
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Causes of the War
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Stalemate
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Conquest & Control
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Life under the Normans
Norman Church
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Revision |
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| Assessment details |
Google forms assessment |
EoU Assessment |
Assessment |
EoU Assessment |
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KNOWLEDGE ORGANISERS
A Knowledge Rich Curriculum at Selby High School
Research around memory suggests that if knowledge is studied once and not revisited or revised, it is not stored in the long-term memory. This means that after one lesson, or revising for one test, the knowledge will not be retained unless it is studied again. It won’t be recalled unless it is revisited frequently, which will embed it in the long term memory. In the long term this makes recall far easier. As part of home learning, students should be revising what they have been taught recently but also content they were taught previously. Therefore as part of our strategy to embed learning over time we have started to develop knowledge organisers across all year groups and curriculum areas. These will provide key content and knowledge allowing students to pre-learn and re-learn, a vital part of processing all the information required to be successful in the new style GCSE’s.
Instructions for using your knowledge organisers
KS3 = Years 7, 8 & 9
KS4 = Years 10 & 11
Below are the knowledge organisers for each topic in this subject. These knowledge organisers will become embedded in the Learning Journeys for each topic as they are created on Ready Steady Learn.
Exam information for GSCE qualifications in this subject area
Click each link below to view the full specification:
- Paper One Section A: America 1840-1895: Expansion and consolidation
- Paper One Section B: Conflict and Tension: 1894-1918
- Paper Two Section A: Britain: Health and the people: c1000 to present day
- Paper Two Section B: Norman England: 1066-1100
