History

Teacher in Charge: Jonny White

E: jwhite@bohuntworthing.com

“The past is intelligible to us only in the light of the present; and we can fully understand the present only in the light of the past.” E H Carr

In History, our students develop confidence, awareness and resilience through our innovative curriculum and an ethos of Enjoy Respect Achieve.

Enjoy

The History curriculum at Bohunt School Worthing is designed to foster in our students a sense of curiosity and love of learning about the past. This knowledge allows students to gain both insight and an enduring interest in who we are, where we come from and what we can accomplish. Inside the classroom the style of teaching and learning across all years is imaginative, engaging and designed to create students who realise their potential to be game-changers. Teachers incorporate detailed written work alongside specialist educational iPad apps,class debates, hot seating, presentations and video clips, recorded and edited by students themselves.

Respect

Our students develop respect and compassion through learning about humanity’s major achievements and its past failings.  The curriculum is designed to give students an appreciation of the social, moral, cultural, religious, and economic ‘angles’ of history as well as the political and military. Students gain an understanding of the past at a regional, national and international level which helps students to understand their heritage and Britain’s place in the world. The subject’s clear links to British Values, diversity and equality movements throughout modern history impress upon students the importance of their personal development as open-minded  and tolerant global citizens.

Achieve

The History curriculum and the skilled teachers who deliver it support students in achieving their full academic potential through a teaching and learning programme which incorporates key historical skills alongside knowledge memorisation and retrieval, learning support and academic stretch materials. Students develop a range of cognitive skills which enable them to think with increasing criticality by making links between the past and present and to construct logical arguments using historical language, developing sophisticated ways to articulate their understanding and views.  

History at KS3

History at KS3 is exciting, fast-paced and gives students a fascinating and wide chronology of study. Students begin Year 7 by doing a KS2 knowledge transition unit which examines the impact the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings had on Britain. Students then study the Norman Conquest, the Black Death, the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Tudors and the English Civil War.

Key historical skills of source analysis, causation, significance, chronological understanding and evaluating interpretations are embedded in Year 7 and further developed in Year 8 when students learn about the industrial revolution, the abolition of the slave trade, the British Empire, women’s suffrage movement, the First World War, America in the 1920s and World War Two. 

History at KS4

At KS4 students follow the Eduqas GCSE. Year 9 begins with a key subject knowledge bridging unit of 1919-1939 before starting the GCSE proper through learning about the changes in health and medicine in Britain from c500 to the present day. Students then work through the USA 1910-1929, Elizabeth I and Germany 1919-1991 units respectively during Years 10-11. 

Key historical skills, embedded at KS3 will be honed during their GCSE studies as will students’ understanding that history does not follow a linear pattern of progress and that the past is in fact a complex web of interconnecting factors. Students will learn that history itself is subject to change and re-interpretation based on evidence from the past and is influenced by beliefs, views and context.