If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything.”

– Howard Zinn, American historian

 

The History Department at Acle Academy aims to create globally aware, active citizens who are equipped to thrive in the wider world.

Throughout their time at Acle Academy, students of history will develop the skills needed to make effective, informed judgements about the world around them and the resilience required to be successful in this complex and demanding subject. Students will benefit from academic rigour and a wealth of support to build their confidence and facilitate their success.

Rationale:

The History Curriculum will provide students with a myriad of opportunities to develop the essential set of skills they’ll need to navigate the modern world and various sources of news and information they will encounter. Students will learn to analyse evidence, evaluate the views of others and form their own, substantiated judgements about the events they study and the world in which they live. History students will become proficient at making and supporting relevant inferences and will engage with a range of second-order concepts, e.g. significance, change and continuity, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, to enhance their understanding of the past and its impact on society today. The sequencing of topics allows students to encounter key concepts in a varied range of contexts to further embed their learning and expose them to the sheer breadth of human experience. For example, students will study the concepts of ‘empire’ and ‘migration’ in year 7 and recognise the significance of imperialism throughout the centuries, culminating in the study of the British Empire in year 9. History students will develop a breadth of knowledge of the topics they study and will be able to regularly demonstrate their knowledge in formative and summative assessments. Similarly, students will develop their historical vocabulary and be able to apply it both verbally and in their writing.

Equally, by developing their knowledge and understanding of historical events they will be able to make sense of a complex, diverse and changing world. Students will learn where places are, about their different cultures and through this will be more aware of the diversity of human experience and therefore respectful of this. History students will develop the skills which allow them to explore political and social issues in society and equip them with the ability to become responsible citizens. They will understand the diversity of the world in which they live and how it has evolved through time.

Students benefit from extra-curricular trips in history, for example, the WWI Battlefields Trip to Belgium and France in Year 9/10 and visits to Norwich Castle and the Tower of London. These visits allow history to be ‘brought to life’ for students and support them to see the significance and relevance of their learning to the world around them.

 

 

Learning Journey & Schemes of Learning

See our learning journeys, these outline the sequence of units, and progression of knowledge and skills across a key stage.

The schemes of learning found below provide an insight into each individual unit within the learning journey.