“I’m really interested in history so I like my Humanities lessons. It’s fun when we have a discussion and get to learn little facts about the past that I never knew before.” Year 8 pupil

History

Key subject skills:

• Description
• Explanation
• Interpretation

In KS2 units are taught so that they are relevant for the age group. In lower school, students develop a chronological understanding of historical events and, through learning a course of historically stimulating units, should foster an interest for the subject and the story of the world in which we live. Cross curricular links are exploited to emphasize the skills of explanation and narrative in writing and to give opportunities for developing reading skills across the curriculum.

The History curriculum is organised across year 7 and 8 to follow a distinct chronological order. In year 7 early foci build the necessary GCSE skills such as description, analysis and written essay structure. In year 8 the topics interleave and provide stimulating topic content, which draws on the last 100 years of British history up until the early 1990s. This provides students with a broad contextual understanding and ample opportunity to apply the key skills to GCSE study. History incorporates key messages about inclusion and acceptance of other cultures with units such as the slave trade in Y7 and the Holocaust in Y8.

Geography

Key subject skills: 

• Locational and spatial knowledge
• Understanding geographical processes 
• Application of knowledge to the real world (human and physical)

Students will cover the basic elements of physical geography to ensure knowledge of key terms and processes is secure. Human geography which requires greater depth of understanding will focus primarily on “real world” situations to improve the link in the students’ minds between cause and effect. This will build on prior learning at KS2 by integrating links to local, national and international geography which will allow application of knowledge at a greater depth. Students will leave Danesfield for the final year of KS3 with a strong knowledge base and will be able to interpret and apply knowledge to GCSE level case studies.