History at Beckfoot Upper Heaton
Our history curriculum gives students a comprehensive grounding in a diverse range of key events throughout history.
The History curriculum at Beckfoot Upper Heaton is ambitious and challenging. We want students to question, challenge, criticise and empower themselves on historical events. We want to build empathy skills so students understand the experiences of different groups of society and apply these to their own experiences.
History enables students to have the opportunity to explore issues at a local, national and international context. With a wide variety of history on offer, enriched with cultural and historical knowledge to engender a critical thinking student. We want our students to have love for history that fosters future interest in the events from the past and the relevance and impact they have on our lives now.
Enrichment
Students will have the opportunity to attend Humanities trips to bring history to life. This includes visits to Saltaire Hall, The Industrial Museum and the Thackray Medical Museum.
Students will also receive assemblies on key universal celebration events such as Remembrance Day and Black History month, providing them with key and detailed knowledge and understanding history in context.
Assessment
A range of formative assessment strategies are implemented in history lessons to support further teaching and our students progress. Summative assessment is also used at the end of ever topic with an end of year exam.
KS4 Specification
Careers
Within our history lessons, careers which connect to the content and discipline are frequently highlighted throughout lessons. We also ensure students understand the wide range of transferable skills they receive from studying history, and the varied careers these could lead to.
Curriculum Overview
| Year | Cycle 1 | Cycle 2 | Cycle 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | What is History? History skills | The Tudors: Why did Henry set up the Church of England? How did the change in the church impact Britain? Elizabeth the ‘Golden Age’ | The Black Tudors: What impact did the black Tudors have on Britain? |
| Year 8 | Empire and the Transatlantic Slave Trade: How was the British Empire connected to the slave trade and how did it impact the lives of those enslaved? | The End of the British Empire: How and why did the British Empire fall? Case study India | Migration to Bradford: What impact has migration to Bradford had on the city over the last 70 years? |
| Year 9 | The Holocaust and life in Nazi Germany:
The Ottoman Empire: How did a Nomadic tribe become the strongest power in the middle East? | The Cold War: What is a Cold War? How close did the world come to nuclear war? | Events that shaped the world: What impact have events in the 20th Century onwards had on peoples lives? Apartheid, 9-11, Titanic |
| Year 10 | Britain, health and people – approaches to medicine, medical doctors and training: Approaches to medicine from the medieval to modern period, training of doctors in the medieval and renaissance period, and churches running hospitals. | Britain, health and people – surgery ideas and techniques: To know and access different surgical techniques and how they change from the medieval to modern period. | Elizabethan England |
| Year 11 | America, opportunity and inequality – The Boom: Key individuals and groups and how they shaped and impacted the development of 1920s America. | America, opportunity and inequality – The Bust: The Wall Street Crash and its impact on American society and its economy.
| Conflict and tension – Korean and Vietnam War:
Revision and exam preparation – Exam style practice, knowledge recall and revision strategies |