History

The department delivers in a purpose-built history block, boasting interactive whiteboards, digital projectors and two IT bases.  The ethos of the department has always been to create a supportive learning environment, but one that challenges students and pupils to develop their analysis, communication and research skills.  Staff are committed to providing variety in lessons, making particular use of interactive tasks and roleplays to bring the subject alive and engage students and pupils, as well as develop their teamwork and interpersonal skills. Value is also placed on allowing students and pupils to take History outside of the classroom, with the opportunity to participate in a residential or educational visit in every year.  This approach has meant History, despite being an optional subject beyond Key Stage 3, consistently has an excellent take up at GCSE and A Level.

The value of the subject and the skills it teaches have recently been highlighted by top universities, particularly Cambridge, which rates History as amongst one of only a handful of subjects to provide excellent broad based access to a large number of Higher Education courses. A large proportion of the department are also educated beyond degree level.