History
History Curriculum Intent:
TOA’s history curriculum aims to help all students develop a rich understanding of the past in order to help them understand the present and contribute to the future. Throughout the curriculum, students will encounter the historical concepts of change and continuity, consequence, causation, similarity and difference, and significance so they have the tools to engage with history. Students will leave TOA better understanding how history is constructed by engaging with historical sources and historians’ interpretations of the past. On a local level, Oxford history case-studies are woven through the curriculum, enabling students to use familiar locations to connect with bigger stories. Students will leave their time at TOA better able to make connections between past, present and future, and better able understand themselves and others.
The following principles have guided our choice of enquiries:
- Students should know how political power has changed in Britain so that they can engage in society as confident citizens.
- History should learn about world history in order to expand their horizons and help them understand their place in the world.
- History should help students make connections between the past, present, and future.
- History should give pupils new perspectives and lenses to view people past and present.
- History should give students powerful knowledge and set them up for success throughout their academic career.
Assessment and planning:
The curriculum is centrally and collaboratively planned by the history team. We use carefully planned booklets designed to help all of our students succeed, and these are reviewed on an annual basis. Each booklet covers one enquiry question.
At the end of each enquiry, students complete a knowledge assessment and a written task, writing an extended answer to the enquiry question. Three times a year, students complete a summative assessment, which tests them on substantive knowledge, chronology, selection of evidence, and disciplinary writing.
Enrichment and futures:
The history curriculum is set up so that students who study GCSE and A Level are able to apply to and succeed at university courses in history. For students who do not select it at GCSE and A Level, the skills of analysis and academic writing will set them up for success in a range of social science and humanities subjects. History is a well-regarded subject that will set students up for success in a range of careers which students are given guidance on.
We offer a range of exciting extracurricular activities to build students’ knowledge of history outside the classroom, including participating in the Oxford University ‘Historian in Residence’ Scheme, and running a trip to the French and Belgium battlefields at the end of year 9.
Please find the curriculum overview document in the link below.
