Fairfield High School for Girls

Introduction

Founded in 1796 we work within an institution steeped in historic values. We consider our subject to be forward looking and dynamic in its commitment to teaching and learning. We have created a vibrant and exciting Department that is well resourced and equipped, allowing pupils to learn in a supportive and challenging atmosphere. We regularly receive visits from colleagues in other schools who wish to share in our good practice and achievements. We understand that we must live life forwards, but recognise that it can only be understood backwards and fully embrace the notion that a person who can't change their mind, can't change!

History at Fairfield High School is a forward looking and relevant subject. Our aim is to be dynamic and modern in our approach to Teaching and Learning. We aim to create a vibrant and and exciting Department that allows pupils to learn in a supportive and challenging atmosphere.

You are welcome to visit our classrooms and attend lessons where you will see a wide range of resources, excellent facilities and the above aims put into practice on a daily basis.

We were particularly proud to record a pass rate of 80% A*-C in our most recent GCSE examinations, with nearly 200 pupils opting for the subject in Years 10 and 11.

Is History at GCSE the right choice for me?

Employers love it!

Employers are normally not too concerned about what subjects you have studies, but what skills you have learnt. History includes all the skills that you will need:

• Organisation – of notes, time and ideas
• Constructing arguments
• Expression of ideas – verbally and written
• Analysis – of evidence
• Supporting your points with facts
• Identification – of key pieces of information

Universities love it!

Universities want to know that you have the skills to approach any subject and style of teaching. It doesn’t matter what course you choose, History will help any subject that you want to study. They want to know that you can:

• Work independently
• Express your ideas clearly
• Analyse pieces of evidence
• Can see links and changes over time

How will History help me in my career?

In fact studying History is really useful because it gives you an understanding of the world around you, people and their motives.

We are constantly bombarded with lots of different types of information – studying. History helps to understand the hidden messages. You need to think about things carefully to be a historian – which is why History is often linked to careers in Medicine and Law.

Year 7

Focus Points:

• What is History? Who am I? Where am I from?
• What is History? Who am I? What is my community?
• What is Multicultural Britain?
• How was the Medieval Community Run?
• How powerful were the medieval monarchs?
• How did William keep control of England?
• What was life like for ordinary medieval people?

Year 8

Focus Points:

• Britain 1500-1750 What was life like in Tudor England?
• What makes a good Tudor wife?
• Why didn't Elizabeth make a "good wife"? Why did the way Elizabeth was portrayed change over time?
• What is freedom? What is civilised? Why did we have a slave trade?
• Why did we have a slave trade? Slave conditions and Plantation Life.
• What are Civil Rights? 1960s Civil Rights - Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Year 9

Focus Points:

• What factors drive change? Britain 1750-1900. Industrial Revolution.
• How did life change for children in 18th and 19th centuries?
• What were the key events of the 20th century? What factors lead to War? (WW1)
• What were conditions like in trenches? What factors lead to War? (WW2)
• How different were the lives of women in 1930s Britain and Nazi Germany?
• Does racism and persecution still exist?

Years 10/11

Focus Points:

• A broad overview of some of the main events and personalities of 20th Century.
• What were the key aspects of changes in technology?
• What were the long term and short term causes of WW1?
• How much was Hitler's Foreign Policy to blame for the outbreak of the war in 1939?
• What were the motives and aims of the Big 3 at Versailles?
• Why did all the victors not get everything they wanted?
• What was the immediate impact of the peace treaty on Germany up to 1923?
• What was it like to be poor at the beginning of the 20 th Century?
• Why did poverty come to the public’s attention at the turn of the century?
• Why did poverty become a political issue?