History

Head of Department: Mrs Emma McKenna

Curriculum Intent

The History curriculum has been designed to create a vibrant environment which enthuses and engages pupils with History. We seek to nourish and develop all the attributes of the academic historian, ranging from the ability to narrate detailed and complex chronologies to demonstrating the capacity to interrogate a source.

The History department is proud of being able to bring the subject to life via a variety of teaching approaches, including role play, discussion, debate, group work, use of modern technologies and engagement with historical scholarship   Our aim is to equip pupils to engage with the past and for them to develop the wherewithal to ask their own questions of the material they encounter, and by so doing to deepen and extend their own intellectual curiosity.

We make History accessible, interesting and relevant to students, through the choice of stimulating subject material, innovative teaching methods and a student-centred approach to learning.  As a result, students develop knowledge as well as the skills to present and explain arguments, and analyse and evaluate historical sources and interpretations.  These are essential tools in studying History, but also important skills transferable to other areas of the curriculum and life in general.

Facilities

The History teaching rooms are situated in the Brook Street and Castlegate Blocks.  All the History classrooms are well-resourced with interactive whiteboards, enabling lessons to be enhanced with a variety of software.

Additional Information

The department offers a trip to the World War I Battlefields in Belgium and France on an annual basis.  In recent years the department has also run trips to Durham Cathedral and Castle, the Imperial War Museum, the Thackray Medical Museum, the National Civil War Centre and the National Holocaust Centre and Museum.

Enrichment opportunities