History Department Vision
The History Department at The English School is led by passionate historians who aim to inspire a lifelong love of history in their students. We believe that studying history is essential in developing young minds and equipping them with critical, enduring skills. All students should possess a fundamental understanding of the past, recognizing how historical events have shaped the modern world. Through history, students build skills in thinking, evaluating, analyzing, empathizing, and communicating. Our goal is to provide lessons and resources that enable students to grow in all these areas.
Departmental Aims and Ethos
Subject Aims
Aligned with the school’s policy, the overarching goal of the History Department is to foster empathy, understanding, and high standards, preparing students for life and work in the 21st century. The aims of the History Department are to:
- Develop students’ knowledge of people in the past and how they lived.
- Explore concepts of causation, continuity, and change.
- Cultivate an understanding of how the past shapes the present.
- Teach historical skills in analysis, comparison, and synthesis, which are valuable for future careers.
- Encourage critical use of historical sources within their context.
- Foster an understanding of how the past has been represented and interpreted.
- Guide students to draw and reassess historical conclusions as new evidence or interpretations emerge.
- Nurture qualities of skepticism, empathy, and imagination.
- Help students recognize their environment as a record of historical change.
- Instill an appreciation of history that will last a lifetime.
Objectives
Our objectives for students are to:
- Understand Chronology: Place events, people, and changes within a chronological framework and use historical terms and conventions accurately.
- Analyze Key Features: Examine and analyze significant periods and societies, including various attitudes and beliefs.
- Explain Causes and Effects: Understand the causes and consequences of historical events and changes.
- Gain a Broad Overview: Develop an understanding of major events and shifts across different historical periods.
- Assess Significance: Evaluate the importance of key events in historical context.
- Investigate Independently: Research aspects of history using a range of sources, collecting and recording relevant information.
- Understand Interpretations: Recognize why events, people, and situations have been interpreted differently and analyze these interpretations.
- Communicate Knowledge Effectively: Express understanding through extended narratives, descriptions, and substantiated explanations.
- Use Terminology Precisely: Apply terms accurately to describe or explain historical topics, such as government, parliament, nobility, state, class, and communism.
