History is a vital part of the world around us and the people who have shaped the world in which we live. At Montgomery Academy we involve students in discovering the past and the significance of key people. To do this we develop their understanding of time, key periods of history and the impact people and events have had on others.
From year 7 we develop students' understanding of interpretations, source analysis, inferences and investigation skills so they are able to explain the importance of people, key events and the effect on people around the world
Every student in years 7, 8 and 9 covers topics ranging from heroes and villains, the Tudors, the British Empire, the Slave Trade and 20th Century world conflicts. Students are given the opportunity to study history as an option subject using the Eduqas specification. The topics that are covered are Germany 1918-1939, Elizabethan England, Britain: Health and Medicine and USA 1929-2000.
All the topics are designed to increase awareness of the actions of key individuals and what their significance is, to use a wide variety of sources to analyse events and to study sites of historical interest to show the relationship between periods of time and importance of places. The ability to make links and show how often history does repeat itself is a valuable tool for students to have, to consider their own rights and responsibilities.
In every lesson students are given a challenge question to clearly focus their learning and to set themselves a target to tackle a variety of concepts. The use of interleaving to sharpen their minds on current and previous learning helps build up their long term knowledge and confidence within every topic they study. Every teacher wants every student involved in their learning. This is achieved through pair and group work, mystery based learning, peer assessment and concepts that require a balanced argument leading to an independently considered conclusion. Every teacher will support the needs of every student through positive relationships, high expectations and clearly explained tasks.We aim to instil a sense of wonder and amazement at how people lived their lives and how events affected their lives. We aim to motivate students to seek out their own independent learning and extend their enjoyment of the topic. Students quickly understand that both famous and infamous people from history have had a lasting impact on the world. This enables students to recognise that events from history have an ongoing bearing on the modern world. History is a study of the past, but it is also a window into the future to show how and why current events occur and the consequences that they bring with them.
Please find below our current schemes of work that we study from Year 7 through to the end of Year 11. It includes the key pieces of knowledge students will be expected to learn and know, as well as the historical skills that will be most used throughout each topic. The documents also contain a number of History related keywords that students will encounter in each topic.
Here you can see our curriculum mapping document for the 25-26 academic year. It shows the topics that are studied, as well as when students are expected to complete application tasks and knowledge checks.
Students will be honing and refining their historical key skills. To help them in their learning, this skills organiser clearly defines the key skills that all History students require, as well as providing examples for students that can help further their understanding of each key skill
Here at Montgomery, we are trialling the EDUQAS/WJEC GCSE History exams. We have found that students have engaged incredibly well with the specification so far and are very excited to see the results of our students' fantastic efforts. To assist them in their upcoming exams, we use a variety of resources, including official examination walk throughs that can help students understand questions.
For our Year 11s visiting the site to revisit one of the walkthroughs, or to our Year 10s looking for the first time - these are excellent resources to help you to reach your full potential.