Curriculum Intent Statement for History
At Chase Terrace Academy we aspire for all of our students to achieve greater things than they ever thought possible.
We pride ourselves on being a warm and welcoming school that places community at the heart of everything we do. Our ambitious curriculum is enriching and inclusive, providing challenge and breadth for all. This empowers our students to become compassionate, confident and creative individuals who are resilient, respectful and equipped with a desire to take up a fulfilling role in society.
In History we aspire to provide outstanding lessons for our students that inspire them and instil in them this sense of community that is at the heart of the Chase Terrace Academy ethos. History is a subject that can help to develop this sense of community and understanding as it is a study of our shared past. We feel that it is vital that students learn about how our country and communities were formed and shaped – from a local and national level at Year 7, to an international level in Year 8 and 9. Above all, we want students to know about the past, so that they can better shape the future.
Through the study of history, our students also master skills in written and verbal communication, through writing essays and presenting on the significance of events, as well as developing source analysis skills such as source inferences and appraisals of reliability, and most importantly – honing their critical thinking and analytical abilities. In a world where the truth is sometimes distorted and evidence is often ignored, our curriculum aims to equip students with the skills to function as right-minded citizens – ready to enter the world.
In lessons, students experience a wide range of activities that cater for all learners’ needs and aim to push and challenge all. At the heart of all we do is the aim to inspire a lifelong love of history and learning. Whilst our aim of providing outstanding lessons also helps us to prepare students in the best ways possible to gain valuable qualifications that will benefit their futures, we also use instil a deep respect for different cultures and histories at a local, regional, national and international level.
We achieve this by taking our students on a journey of the past by studying history from a chronological perspective, with an emphasis on different reoccurring themes – such as the emerging rights of the people from Magna Carta to Civil Rights, the power of the state from the Norman Conquest to the Nazis, and issues of warfare from the Crusades to the War on Terror. Our topics are ambitiously weaved together to give our students a deep, multi-layered and meaningful understanding of history. Our KS3 curriculum covers the Ancient Period, through to the Medieval and Modern Period – establishing the building blocks of a good historical understanding, in preparation for GCSE, A-Level and life beyond as a historian.
Through careful planning, we have identified the core substantive (historical) knowledge that students need to know, which substantive concepts (themes) they need to harness to make sense of this knowledge, and the disciplinary knowledge (skills) to apply it successfully as young historians.
Our Implementation Plan – detailing the components we use at KS3 to build up to KS4 & KS5, rather than work down, as a spiral curriculum:
We understand that not all students will opt in to history at GCSE & A-Level. Therefore, we have planned KS3 across 3 years to ensure that all students achieve a strong understanding of the world from the Ancient Period to the Modern World – covering events and pertinent themes right up to present day – and fulfilling our intent plan of wanting students to know about the past, so that they can better shape the future.
| Year 10 | Curriculum Implementation Plan |
| Knowledge Organisers | |
| Term 1A, 1B, 2A | |
| Medicine | |
| Term 2B, 3A, 3B | |
| World War One |
| Year 11 | Curriculum Implementation Plan |
| Exam Board: AQA | Examination Specification Guide |
| Knowledge Organisers | |
| Term 1A and 1B | |
| Democracy and Dictatorship | |
| Term 2A and 2B | |
| Elizabethan England |
| Sixth Form – Year 12 and Year 13 | Examination Specification Guide |
| Curriculum Implementation Plan – Year 12 | |
| Curriculum Implementation Plan – Year 13 | |
| Knowledge Organisers – Year 12 and 13 | |
| Germany: Democracy and Nazism | |
| Tudors | |
| 1. Henry VII, 1485-1509 | |
| 2. Henry VIII, 1509-1547 | |
| 3. Instability and Consolidation | |
| 4. The Triumph of Elizabeth |