history

BACKGROUND

I have been Head of History for two years now. My predecessor had held the post for several years and had worked diligently to create a successful and well managed department. Since my appointment I have endeavoured to continue apace this development. The History department continues to achieve very good exam results, and is held in high regard by all stakeholders in the school.

STAFFING

There are four members of the department teaching History at all key stages. The team contains a good mix of experienced staff and enthusiastic and able younger members. All members of the team have worked hard to push History forward as a department and to raise its profile, and the discipline’s importance, among the student body. The team is:

Roddy Wilson (Head of Department)
Kari Olufsen (Key Stage 3 Co-ordinator)
Billie Thomas (Main – Scale Teacher)
Ruth Calvo Tello (NQT)

RESOURCES

The History Department has Schemes of Work in place at all key stages. These are revisited and refreshed when appropriate e.g. Curriculum 2008; the new A Level specs. Lesson planning ideas are shared anecdotally and via departmental meetings, and staff has responsibility for ensuring that their lessons are suitably differentiated. Departmental Schemes of Work are supported via centrally resourced lessons and sets of text books. In addition all staff have access to a wide variety of resources from individual lap tops, to the basics such as scissors, glue, pens, pencils, etc. Single copies of text books, history books and periodicals are also available to all staff.

ROOM ALLOCATION

At Westcombe Park, Rooms 120 and 121 are designated History teaching rooms. At Maze Hill Room 5 is the designated History classroom. Split site and capital issues mean that staff teach in a wide variety of other rooms; however in the designated History rooms there is a commitment to regularly changing and effective display. All designated teaching rooms have interactive whiteboards; however ‘snagging’ issues as to ICT remain.

PROCEDURES

All staff are issued with a Teacher Planner at the start of the Academic Year. This – or some other suitable means – should be used to record lesson-by-lesson planning. In addition each History teaching group has a folder which includes a paper register, a seating plan and lesson-by-lesson progress logs against the SoW, a SoW, pupil data and pupil assessment records. All such should be completed by each member of the department on a lesson-by-lesson basis.

The History Department also has clear policies for Rewards, Sanctions, Assessment and Enrichment and follows whole school procedures for Reporting and Behaviour (the Positive Discipline Framework).

Statement of Values:

All members of the School Community are important and each has a contribution to make. We value skills, achievement and the desire for knowledge along with application and effort.
We are aware that the secondary sector is the final experience of school history and for many pupils Key Stage 3 will be the last opportunity to study History.

The following aims and objectives relate directly to the aims of The John Roan School and show our contribution towards their achievement.

1. To maintain and / or stimulate student curiosity, interest and enjoyment in History.
2. To employ teaching methods and resources that allow all pupils (irrespective of their gender, ethnic origin, academic ability, etc) to have equal access to History and to experience success and enjoyment in their work.
3. To encourage students to have open, enquiring minds and to perceive History in the context of a wider body of knowledge, vocabulary and skills and to provide a second basis for life long study and the pursuit of personal interest.
4. i. To cultivate in students a sense of the past, a knowledge of events and their causes and effects.

ii. To enable students to appreciate how we gain knowledge about the past and to understand how the past has been represented and interpreted. Students should be aware that individual views will be biased.
iii. To enable students to use historical sources critically and to draw conclusions and appreciate that these and other historical conclusions are liable to reassessment in the light of new or reinterpreted evidence.
iv. To enable students to understand and confidently use the terminology specific to the subject.
v. To encourage the development of informed opinions and to support such opinions with reasoned arguments, communicating ideas and opinions effectively.

5. To support the implementation of the statement on ‘Shared Values’ and to enable pupils to develop a range of desirable personal qualities such as safety awareness, politeness, perseverance, concern for others, initiative and independence.

These objectives relate to the five aims of the History Department at The John Roan School and are intended to show how the aims are actually put into practice.

1. i. Staff should provide a variety of experiences / activities during a course of study and during a lesson if possible employing teaching methods and resources that allow all students (irrespective of their gender, ethnic origin, academic ability, etc) to have equal access to History and to experience success and enjoyment in their work.

ii. Staff should use a reward system, e.g. a Commendation system and / or a record of achievement. This should encourage students to work in their full potential and to experience a sense of achievement.

2. i. The National Curriculum Key Stage 3 History Orders along with the GCSE syllabus should be used as a basic core for the History scheme of work. All students follow the same Scheme of Work. Staff should provide a glossary of words for each topic in order to aid correct spelling, comprehension and use of words.

ii. Students are to be encouraged to share their experiences and culture with others in order to enhance the quality of learning that they experience.
iii. Staff should attempt not to spend inequitable amounts of time with any one student, group of students or gender group, etc. However, staff often spend considerable amounts of their own time helping individual students.

3. i. Staff should refer to work in Science, Geography, Religious Education, Maths, Music, Languages, ICT, etc. when appropriate.

ii. Staff should encourage students to recall and apply their knowledge and skills in familiar and unfamiliar situations.
Iii. Students should also be able to obtain information from graphs, tables and diagrams and identify patterns / relationships in the information and draw conclusions.

4. i. Students should be taught to examine the context of source material and the influence this may have upon its value. Students should be able to undertake projects / written assignments and to be able to select and use appropriate sources of information. Students should not be expected to undertake projects / assignments unless they have gained related knowledge and / or skills from previous work.

ii. Staff should create opportunities for students to express information in varying ways employing a variety of media (computers, video, audio tape, extended writing, illustrations, diagrams, graphs, questionnaires and role play). Students should be taught to structure their work. Students should be able to follow both verbal and written instructions accurately. The staff will allow opportunities for group discussion. At these times we can listen to each other’s views and hopefully reflect upon them.

5. The Department’s scheme of work identifies planned opportunities for pupils to develop a range of desirable personal qualities such as safety awareness, politeness, perseverance, concern for others, initiative and independence.

HISTORY TRIPS

• British Museum
• ‘Student Question Time’ at the House of Commons
• Nick Raynsford – and the Parliamentary Education Department
• Tate Britain
• A partnership with English Heritage
• Annual History trip to Ypres in Belgium to see the First World War trenches
• The whole of Year 9 will form the audience for the Holocaust based play ‘And Then They Came for Me’ in November while 4 Sixth Form students will visit the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Poland.