History
The FCC History department wants our students to:
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Have a clear chronological understanding of Local, British and World history to allow students to understand the world in which they live, and how the past has an impact on contemporary events.
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Students will study History through a series of interesting and challenging enquiry questions that allow for the exploration of new topics, while building on previous learning.
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Be able to understand and explain key historical concepts; change and continuity, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, significance.
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Be able to see themselves represented in a diverse history curriculum that reflects the diversity of human experience. Students will study diverse cultures, ways of thinking, and differing experiences throughout history and reflect on what we can learn from these.
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Understand that history is a construction, with the past being interpreted in a variety of ways by historians. Students will understand how an interpretation is created and how the context influences the interpretation. Students will be able to explain the differences between interpretations.
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Develop a robust set of source skills that equip them to interrogate sources, make decisions about their reliability and utility, and to understand why it is important to question sources.
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Experience site-based learning to gain an understanding of the historical environment and how we can learn from it as a historical source.
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Develop a life-long love of history that is underpinned by a set of key skills that will allow them to develop and succeed in their chosen pathway. This includes the key skill of independent learning, where students are able to frame an enquiry question, have the skills to research that question and present their findings.
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Students will complete a series of assessments that enable them to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding, but also that allow for the development of their historical skills and demonstrate progress. These will be marked in a way that allows students to identify areas for development and provide opportunities to improve their work.
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage Three, we want the students to have a broad understanding of History and to develop the key skills necessary to succeed in the subject.
The Historical Disciplines students will study are:
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Cause and consequence
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Change and continuity
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Similarity and difference
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Significance
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Evidence
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Interpretations
These disciplines run throughout the whole of the Key Stage, enabling pupils to become confident learners. The curriculum at Key Stage 3 is organised largely chronologically. Students begin their study of history by focussing on the Norman Conquest and move through both British and world history to the present day. Students are assessed at the end of a learning unit, and these assessments are composed of a number of recall, short answer and long answer questions. Students will be encouraged to see the “bigger picture” in history, by connecting topics and themes together to understand how one event can influence another. The Key Stage Three curriculum will also allow learners to explore different cultures and identities to help them understand the diverse world we live in today.
Key Stage 4
Unlike many other schools, Faringdon Community College teaches two GCSE History options. Both are examined using the Pearson Edexcel specification. All students complete a modern depth study focussing on Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39. Every student also completes a British depth study focussing on Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88. The aim of the two pathways is to allow students to have a choice of content at GCSE and allow them to select a pathway that mirrors their own historical interests. The units we have selected as a department have been chosen to mirror the teaching expertise to be found within the History team, but also to allow the students to explore questions of historical significance, that allow them to place current world events in a historical framework.
Irrespective of which pathway students choose, they build the skills they have developed at Key Stage 3 focussing on the core disciplines of:
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Narrative Analysis
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Judgement
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Interpretations
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Source work (utility)
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Causation
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Change and continuity
Students who opt for pathway 1 will complete a thematic study of Warfare Through Time, c.1250-present. This includes a historical environment study of London and the Second World War, 1939-45. This historical environment study focuses on the Blitz, the weapons used by Germany and the impact of the Blitz on civilians, government and morale. Students opting for pathway 1 will also complete a modern depth study focusing on Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91.
Students who opt for pathway 2 will complete a thematic study of Medicine Through Time, c.1250-present. This includes a historical environment study of The British sector of the Western Front, 1914-18: injuries, treatment and the trenches. This historical environment study focuses on the impact of the trench environment and the new weaponry of World War One on the health of soldiers. Students opting for pathway 2 will also complete a modern depth study focusing on Conflict in the Middle East, 1945-95.
As part of their study of World War One (pathway 1 = Battle of the Somme, pathway 2 = Medicine on the Western Front) all students have the opportunity to take part in the annual school visit to the Battlefields of Ypres and the Somme.
For more details about the specific pathways, please see the relevant programme of study below.
Key Stage 5
A Level History at FCC is taught following the AQA specification. A Level studies are based around three units. These are:
Unit 1, Option H, Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855-1964.
Unit 2, Option B, The Wars of the Roses 1450-99.
Unit 3, Non-Examined Assessment, Historical Investigation.
The units we have selected as a department have been chosen to mirror the teaching expertise to be found within the History team, but also to allow the students to explore differing periods of History. The nature of the units we have chosen allow students to make comparisons between the rule of medieval kings and absolute monarchs in the 19th century. The units also allow students to compare differing attitudes to government, the impact of different regimes on society, the expressions of dissent and attempts to challenge the ruling elite.
Aims of Unit 1: Unit 1 allows students to develop secure understanding of the process of change over time. The Unit is structured around six key questions which identify issues and perspectives which are central to the period of study. They emphasise that the study of breadth requires students to develop an understanding of:
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The nature of causes and consequences, of change and continuity and of similarity and differences over a long period of time.
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The links between perspectives, such as political, economic, social or religious as well as appreciating developments relating to the perspectives separately over time.
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The role played by individuals, groups, ideas or ideology.
Aims of Unit 2: Unit 2 is focused on a significant period of historical change or development. Students will gain deep understanding of change and continuity through the study of the interrelationships of a variety of perspectives. Students will develop detailed knowledge and understanding of developments and the roles of individuals, groups, ideas, and ideology. Depth Studies also promote an understanding of the complexity of the historical process through a detailed focus on a specific period of change.
Aims of Unit 3: Students identify an issue they wish to study and develop a question from this issue which will be the focus of the Historical Investigation. To ensure that this represents a substantial study, the issue to be investigated must be placed in the context of approximately 100 years. Students may study a specific issue or development in depth, but this must be placed in the context of approximately 100 years, or a broader theme and/or development. Issues which relate to international, national, or local developments are appropriate, as are investigations which adopt specific historical perspectives such as cultural, social or technological. Through undertaking the Historical Investigation, students will develop an enhanced understanding of the nature and purpose of history as a discipline and how historians work. They will broaden their study of the past whilst having the opportunity to study a specific issue in great depth.
For more details about the content of the A Level Course, please see the relevant programme of study below.