History at St Michael’s is designed to deepen thinking about the past, different cultures and the processes by which our country has developed. Britain stands as a multicultural democracy with a reputation for welcoming diversity in culture, ethnicity and religion. It is, therefore, the intent of the history scheme of work to be reflective of this.
As required by the National Curriculum, students are provided with a broad and balanced understanding of the past including the ability to understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives.
History at St Michael’s is engaging, robust and relevant to students in their everyday life, including the ability to acquire knowledge and understanding of the world, assess the significance of people and events and make sustained and substantiated judgements on a variety of factors from local history, national history and world history. This is achieved through a series of ‘big picture’ questions.
Ultimately, our aim is to produce a blended curriculum of knowledge and skills that enables young people to gain a wider interest in history and the skills needed to flourish after their school career. It is designed to encourage students to ask questions, to think critically and use evidence to support their arguments or to challenge accepted conclusions in the search for truth.
