Curriculum Intent
The History curriculum at Carr Hill High School is designed to inspire students to understand, engage with, and enjoy history whilst developing a genuine love for the subject that they can carry into their future lives and careers. We follow a powerful unifying theme throughout our curriculum; Conflict and its Impact on Society. This theme weaves through all periods of history, enabling students to develop deep understanding and knowledge of how history has shaped the modern world and its continued relevance to our lives today.
Each aspect of our curriculum ties into conflict and society, allowing students to build a complex schema that goes beyond chronological study. As students’ progress through the curriculum, they interleave their acquired knowledge, making comparisons between what has been taught previously, what is currently being studied, and making inferences about upcoming / future topics. For example, the English Civil War draws comparisons with the French Revolution and the Rise of the Nazis in terms of absolute power and its impact on societies. This approach means students develop transferable knowledge and understand the socialising aspects of history in their own lives, allowing them to understand and consider events that will materialise in their future.
Our KS3 curriculum is constructed around two key pillars: substantive knowledge (the content of history itself, including key concepts such as democracy, empire, parliament, church, and monarchy) and disciplinary knowledge (the skill set of historians – how they investigate the past and construct historical claims, arguments, and accounts). By the end of Key Stage 3, students will have a thorough understanding of conflict and its impact on society, a deep knowledge of how history has shaped the modern world, and the disciplinary skills to think and work like historians.
How the History curriculum contributes to the school’s curriculum intent?
· Knowledge
The History curriculum at Carr Hill High School challenges all students to become knowledge rich by providing a carefully planned, sequenced and deliberately interleaved programme of study built around the unifying theme of Conflict and its Impact on Society. This coherent structure enables all pupils including to access ambitious knowledge rich content, developing extensive substantive knowledge from the Anglo-Saxons to the Cold War while deepening their understanding through continual comparison, recall and meaningful connection-making across time.
Each unit clearly identifies the essential substantive and disciplinary knowledge, key vocabulary and likely misconceptions required for progression, ensuring all pupils are taught how historians construct arguments, analyse evidence, evaluate interpretations and form substantiated judgements. Pupils build secure schemas over time through deliberate interleaving, regular retrieval practice, low-stakes testing, guided practice, modelling and cumulative assessments, enabling them to revisit and connect prior learning so they know more and remember more as they move through the curriculum.
Increasing sophistication / depth part of our curriculum design: students’ progress from recognising simple causes, evidence types and interpretations in Year 7 to confidently analysing provenance, evaluating significance and making well-supported historical claims by Year 9. Through this systematic and rigorous approach; combined with high expectations, strong oracy routines and rich opportunities to apply knowledge, the History curriculum ensures every learner develops a deep, durable and expanding body of knowledge that fully reflects the school’s commitment to “challenge all students to be knowledge rich.”
· Vocabulary rich
Students are exposed to subject-specific vocabulary to describe the past with precision and academic rigour. They read and explore a wide variety of written historical sources. Rather than denying pupils access to complex vocabulary, we support and guide our students to understand technical terminology and terms which may no longer be in common usage. Academic language and historical terms are regularly used in lessons and incorporated into both oracy and written work. Students are constantly challenged to use the information they have gathered to produce written work of the highest quality, organising and structuring their arguments by drawing upon evidence from a range of historical sources using sophisticated historical vocabulary.
· Aspiration
Our curriculum challenges students with difficult subject matter and complex historical concepts. Students engage in challenging work through investigating sources, developing critical and evaluative thinking skills, and producing extended written responses. Formative feedback supports a culture of continuous improvement, embedding the understanding that students can always improve their work, knowledge, and learning. We set high expectations for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, holding the same ambitious standards for every student. Through carefully scaffolded support where needed, all students can access challenging content and develop pride in their achievements, building confidence and self-belief.
· Character building
Through the study and evaluation of historical events, people, and sources, students make sense of the past and understand how it has shaped the world today. Our curriculum develops resilience and mental toughness through the climate for learning in History classrooms: a can-do culture where students learn from mistakes and improve their work based on quality teacher feedback. Students participate in structured debates following units of study, learning to engage respectfully with different perspectives, consider multiple viewpoints, and articulate complex arguments. These experiences build character traits essential for citizenship, including empathy, critical thinking, open-mindedness, and the ability to engage constructively with challenging and sometimes controversial topics.
· Love of learning
Pupils study engaging historical events, people, and sources to develop critical thinking and wider historical skills. Deep human questions are tackled to engage students and foster a genuine love of learning. Our teaching methods and delivery use a range of techniques to engage pupils and inspire curiosity about the past. Challenge is promoted through deep learning opportunities that develop pride in achievement, building students’ confidence, self-belief, and inspiration to learn more. By understanding the socialising aspects of history in their own lives, students see the subject’s relevance and importance, developing an enthusiasm for history that extends beyond examination success and into their future lives and careers.
Our aims for all students
· To develop: Chronological understanding of British and world history from the Anglo-Saxons to the present day, building secure knowledge of how societies have changed and the impact of conflict across different periods
· To gain: Disciplinary knowledge that allows students to think like historians, critically analysing sources, constructing evidence-based arguments, and understanding how historians investigate the past
· To explore: The theme of Conflict and its Impact on Society across different time periods, making meaningful comparisons and connections that deepen understanding of continuity and change
· To become: Confident orators and writers who can articulate complex historical ideas using appropriate academic vocabulary and engage in respectful, informed debate
· To celebrate: The relevance of history to modern life, understanding how the past has shaped the present and developing the skills to be informed, critical thinkers in their future lives and careers
Reading in History
In History, reading is prioritised as one of our core ambitions is for students to be able to speak and write like historians. This means that all year groups are exposed to a wide variety of historical sources and scholarly writing which have not been altered to remove challenging language.
Students regularly engage with primary historical sources from different time periods, including letters, speeches, government documents, and contemporary accounts. They also read secondary sources, including extracts from professional historians and academic texts, developing their understanding of how historians construct interpretations of the past. In addition, students are challenged constantly to use information they have gathered to produce written work of the highest quality, organising and structuring their arguments and drawing upon evidence from a range of historical sources.
All curriculum materials, including lessons, resources, and Knowledge Organisers, are accessible through Arbor to support independent reading and revision. We also maintain a reading list of recommended historical texts available in the school library, linked on our website, which supports and extends classroom learning across all key stages.
Learning beyond the classroom in History
At Carr Hill High School, we are committed to enriching students’ historical understanding through experiences beyond the classroom that bring history to life and deepen engagement with our curriculum themes.
Parallel Histories: Parallel Histories plays a significant role in enriching learning beyond the classroom by providing students with the opportunity to research challenging and contested historical issues and then engage in inter-school (sometimes international) debates where they present arguments and respond to rebuttals.
Its distinctive dual-narrative approach presents two competing historical perspectives side by side, helping students understand how the same events can be interpreted differently depending on national and cultural viewpoints. Through this, pupils develop critical thinking skills, challenge assumptions about national narratives, and gain a more nuanced understanding of historical causation, consequence and memory. The charity’s mission is to help young people analyse and debate contested histories through evidence-led investigation and structured, safe debate environments, where they learn to question claims, evaluate competing interpretations and communicate viewpoints respectfully.
This process not only strengthens students’ oracy, confidence and historical judgement but also powerfully reinforces our curriculum theme of Conflict and its Impact on Society, encouraging learners to consider multiple perspectives and recognise how history continues to shape national identities today.
Educational visits: We organise educational visits to historical sites, museums, and cultural institutions that directly support our curriculum. These visits allow students to encounter primary sources, artefacts, and spaces that bring their learning to life. Students develop their understanding of how historians work and gain memorable experiences that consolidate and extend their classroom knowledge.
Debate and discussion opportunities: Following the completion of units of study, students participate in structured debates using clear protocols that encourage respectful discourse, active listening, and the use of academic language. Students learn to use standard English, speak clearly and audibly, show respect for different viewpoints, and support their arguments with historical evidence. These debates develop oracy skills, confidence, and the ability to articulate complex historical arguments – skills that are valuable far beyond the History classroom.
Through these enrichment opportunities, we aim to inspire curiosity, develop cultural capital, and foster a genuine passion for history that extends into students’ future lives and careers.
