> Ofsted - Tanbridge Report

 “Tanbridge House is a good school that works hard with the students to improve the progress they make.”

 

Ofsted Inspection Nov 2007

History

Course Outline

All students study History in Years 7 – 9. In Years 10 – 11 History becomes an optional GCSE subject.

Course Content

Key Stage 3

During Years 7–9 students follow the programmes of study as set down by the National Curriculum. These include:

Year group Programme of study
Year 7 Britain 1066 – 1500 - Britain 1500 – 1750
(Part 1 – The Tudors)
Year 8 Britain 1500 – 1750 - The French Revolution
(Part 2 – The Stuarts)
Britain 1750 – 1900 - A Local Study of Brighton
Year 9 World War One - World War Two
The Holocaust - The Cold War
Black Peoples of the Americas

Key Stage 4

The GCSE course that students follow is the OCR ‘Modern World History’ Syllabus B. This includes study of the following topics:

  • International Relations 1919 – 1939
  • Britain 1906 – 1918 (An evidence based study)
  • United States of America 1919 – 1941 (Includes two Pieces of GCSE Coursework) Germany 1918 – 1945
  • Subject Organisation
  • All History classes are grouped by ability at both KS3 and KS4.

Key Stage 3

In Year 7 – 9 students have three lessons of History every two weeks. Through the programmes of study students will be taught a range of skills. These include:

  • Chronological Understanding
  • Knowledge of events, people and changes in the past
  • Historical Interpretation
  • Historical Enquiry
  • Organisation and Communication of ideas

Key Stage 4

At GCSE level, students have five lessons of History every two weeks. The first three topics above are studied in Year 10. 25% of the final GCSE grade is based on the coursework component, which is also completed in Year 10. The final topic is taught in Year 11. There are two exams. Paper 1 accounts for 45% of the final grade. Paper 2 (the evidence based paper) accounts for 30%.

Beyond The Classroom

We are passionate in our belief that History is a living subject, the study of which extends beyond the classroom. We arrange a number of historical visits open to students: Bodiam Castle, Battle Abbey, the Battlefields of Belgium, the Imperial War Museum and the Holocaust Exhibition.

Parental Support

At Key Stage 3 we encourage parents to join us as helpers on our historical visits. We hope that parents will take their own children on additional visits to historical sites in order to foster their enthusiasm for the subject. We also hope that you will take an interest in the work your child is completing and will aid and encourage them in homework tasks that has been set.

At Key Stage 4 students are encouraged to buy revision guides which we hope will also assist parents in helping their children to gain the best possible grades.

Assessment – How well is your child doing?

  • Tanbridge House School gives all students a target level in history and the history department gives each student a sheet for their exercise book explaining what they need to be able to do to reach their target level.
  • At KS3 students attempt 4-5 core tasks and an exam based on National Curriculum levels
  • A National Curriculum level and an effort grade are awarded and a teacher’s comment identifies strengths, weaknesses and targets – ideally every student should achieve their target grade or better in all core tasks.
  • Students write their own review of their performance in their learning progress and achievement booklet with ideas on how to develop their work.

Homework


  • History homework is set every week for all classes
  • Time expected to complete the work and the type of activity will vary depending on year group and student ability
  • At KS3 homework should take approximately 20-30 minutes
  • At KS4 homework should take approximately 30-60 minutes
  • We do not expect students to spend longer than this
  • The types of activities could be:
    • reading
    • research based – including the use of ICT
    • posters
    • diagrams/illustrations
    • letters
    • essay type questions
    • literacy based e.g. learning spellings or the definition of words
  • Any activity will be directly related to developing understanding of the historical topic studied in the previous or next lesson or a general topic such as citizenship