Why do we learn history?
Head of Department
Our approach
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
Year 11
Year 12
Year 13

Why do we learn history?

Welcome to the history department at Ark Academy. At Ark Academy we aim to expose students to a broad, diverse and inclusive range of history. Students finish Key Stage 3 with a strong narrative of British and global history from 1000 to the present day. This then informs their understanding at Key Stage 4 and 5, supporting consistently excellent outcomes at GCSE and A Level.

Head of Department

Assistant Headteacher: Upper Key Stage 2 Phase Lead

Ms Thomas

r.thomas@arkacademy.org
Head of History

Ms Kinnon

a.kinnon1@arkacademy.org

Our approach

Students in Key Stage 3 benefit from a chronological approach. This approach allows the curriculum to interweave between different substantive concepts, and allows students to place key events and trends within a firm timeline. As students enter into GCSE and A Level in which they study both discrete periods of time and themes across broad periods, they build on this existing chronological understanding in more depth.

Our key objectives for students include:

  1. Supporting students to retain long-term, key historical knowledge and substantive concepts that will prepare them for formal examinations and enable them to become active citizens.
  2. Teaching students to be flexible in the way they apply their knowledge and to communicate their knowledge fluently and confidently.
  3. To understand the contested nature of historical narratives and interpretations, and to understand how to challenge existing interpretations of history.
  4. To equip students with the study skills and learning habits necessary to become independent and effective learners, in particular the ability to read academic literature with fluency.

Year 1

Autumn 1 Autumn 2
How have toys changed over time?
Geography taught component Toys in time
Spring 1 Spring 2
Have we always travelled in the same way?
Ticket to ride: transport Ticket to ride: transport
Summer 1 Summer 2
Have we always liked to be beside the seaside?
Geography taught component The seaside now and then

All Year 1 subjects Next Year 1 Subject - Geography

Year 2

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

Who was the most powerful British monarch?

Did the Great Fire of London only have a negative impact?
Kings and Queens The Great Fire of London
Spring 1 Spring 2
Geography taught component Geography taught component
Summer 1 Summer 2
Who do you think made the biggest contribution to discovery?
They Made a Difference Geography taught component

All Year 2 subjects Next Year 2 Subject - Geography

Year 3

Autumn 1 Autumn 2
How did life improve in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age?
Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age Geography taught component
Spring 1 Spring 2
Were the Romans successful in their invasion of Britain?
Roman Invasion Geography taught component
Summer 1 Summer 2

How did the Anglo Saxons change Britain?

Was the Shang Dynasty the most advance of the early civilisations?
Anglo Saxons Shang Dynasty

All Year 3 subjects Next Year 3 Subject - Geography

Year 4

Autumn 1 Autumn 2
The Vikings were all vicious warriors only interested in killing, do you agree or disagree?
Vikings Geography taught component
Spring 1 Spring 2
What made the ancient Egyptians one of the most successful civilisations?
Egyptians Geography taught component
Summer 1 Summer 2
Has Wembley benefitted from the Wembley arena?
Local History Study Geography taught component

All Year 4 subjects Next Year 4 Subject - Geography

Year 5

Autumn 1 Autumn 2
Who were the ancient Greeks and how have they influenced our lives today?
Greeks Geography taught component
Spring 1 Spring 2
How has life changed in the 20th century?
Leisure and Entertainment in the 20th Century Geography taught component
Summer 1 Summer 2
What was the Golden Age of Islam and how did it help us today?

Early Civilization- Islam

 Geography taught component

All Year 5 subjects Next Year 5 Subject - Geography

Year 6

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

Did the abolition of the slave trade lead to equality?

What were the priorities for the British Government during WW2?
Black History World War 2
Spring 1 Spring 2
Geography taught component Geography taught component
Summer 1 Summer 2
Did the Victorian age have a positive impact on humanity?
Victorians Geography taught component

All Year 6 subjects Next Year 6 Subject - Geography

Year 7

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

What drove Baghdad’s thirst for knowledge?

How disruptive were the Normans?

Why did Alexios’ empire survive?

Why did the barons keep rebelling against their English rulers?

What light can one saint’s story shed on western Christian worlds?
World Views in c1000: The Byzantine Empire, Islamic civilisations, and Western Christian world Contested power, contested land (11th and 12th centuries)
Spring 1 Spring 2

What does the story of Mansa Musa reveal about medieval Africa?

Who was affected by English expansion [in Wales and Scotland]?

Order and disorder in Walsham: how did one village respond to the Black Death?

What do the Wars of the Roses reveal about power and instability in fifteenth-century England?
Empires: expansion and collapse (13th century) Stability and instability (14th and 15th centuries)
Summer 1 Summer 2
What changed in the village of Morebath from 1519 to 1574?
Religious revolution and resistance in the 16th century Revision

All Year 7 subjects Next Year 7 Subject - Geography

Year 8

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

Autumn 1 enquiry: How similar were Anglo-Saxon England and the Byzantine Empire following the collapse of the Roman Empire?

Autumn 2 enquiry: How successful were the peasant rebellions in late medieval Europe and Asia?
The post-Roman world Popular revolts in late medieval Europe and Asia
Spring 1 Spring 2

Spring 1 enquiry: How far did the Mali Empire change during the reign of Mansa Musa?

Spring 2 enquiry: Why did the British economy grow between c1700 and c1900? And Why was the slave trade abolished in the British Empire in 1833?
The Mali Empire Industrial revolution and the Transatlantic slave trade and its abolition
Summer 1 Summer 2

Summer 1 enquiry:

How far was Russia changed by the Russian Revolution?
Russian Revolution

Revision, exams and review

All Year 8 subjects Next Year 8 Subject - Geography

Year 9

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

Autumn 1 enquiry: What was the greatest achievement of the Islamic Golden Age?

Autumn 2 enquiry: How similar was British colonial rule in different parts of the world?
The Islamic Golden Age British Empire in Australia, India and West Africa
Spring 1 Spring 2

Spring 1 enquiry: How far did the shooting of a Duke lead to World War One? / How did World War I to lead to World War II?

Spring 2 enquiry: How did the Civil Rights Movement in the USA impact the struggle for racial equality, and what were the key events, individuals and strategies that contributed to its success?
Inter war period (1918 - 1939) Civil Rights
Summer 1 Summer 2
Summer 1 enquiry: How have historians studied the causes of Genocide?
20th century genocides Revision

All Year 9 subjects Next Year 9 Subject - Geography

Year 10

Autumn 1 Autumn 2
What caused progress in medicine to stall and accelerate?
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present Medicine in Britain, c1250–present
Spring 1 Spring 2

What can we learn about treatment and developments in medicine on the Western Front from contemporary sources?

How did the Weimar Republic emerge and stay afloat after the First World War?
The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39
Summer 1 Summer 2
How did Germany go from a democracy to a dictatorship in the 1930s?
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 Revision and end of Year assessments

All Year 10 subjects Next Year 10 Subject - Geography

Year 11

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

What challenges did Elizabeth I face to her rule and how did she overcome them?

How did society change in the early Elizabethan period?
Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88 Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88
Spring 1 Spring 2

How did two superpowers dominate global politics after WWII?

Why did the world come so close to nuclear war in 1962?
Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91 Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91
Summer 1 Summer 2
Revision External exams

All Year 11 subjects Next Year 11 Subject - Geography

Year 12

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

Britain

  1. Failure of monarchical government 1625-49
  2. Republican Rule 1649-1660
  3. Restoration and collapse of the Stuart monarchy 1660-1688

Russia:

  1. The Tsarist regime
  2. Organised opposition
  3. Revolutionary activity
  4. Stolypin’s policies of repression & reform
  5. Russia’s involvement in the First World War
  6. The 1917 February Revolution

BRITAIN, 1625-1701 - Theme 1: The quest for political stability.

RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION - Theme 1: The rule of Nicholas II and Theme 2: the end of Romanov rule

BRITAIN, 1625-1701 - Theme 1: The quest for political stability.

RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION - Theme 1: The rule of Nicholas II and Theme 2: the end of Romanov rule
Spring 1 Spring 2

Britain:

  1. Evolution of the Church of England
  2. Religious dissent and non-conformity
  3. Fear of Roman Catholic influence
  4. Population increase
  5. Structure of society
  6. Changes in science and philosophy

Russia:

  1. The Petrograd soviet
  2. Opposition to the Provisional Government
  3. The role of Kerensky
  4. The October Revolution

BRITAIN, 1625-1701 - Theme 2: Religion: conflict and dissent and Theme 3: Social and intellectual change

RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION - Theme 3: The Provisional Government and its opponents

BRITAIN, 1625-1701 - Theme 2: Religion: conflict and dissent and Theme 3: Social and intellectual change

RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION - Theme 3: The Provisional Government and its opponents
Summer 1 Summer 2

Britain:

  1. Changes in agricultural techniques
  2. Changing trade patterns, banking, and insurance
  3. Imperial expansion
  4. Revolutionary ideals
  5. End of Anglican supremacy
  6. Increase in parliamentary power
  7. Financial revolution

Russia:

  1. The Bolsheviks’ consolidation of power
  2. Bolshevik economic policy
  3. Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War
  4. Foreign intervention in the Russian Civil War

BRITAIN, 1625-1701 - Theme 4: Economy, trade and empire and Theme 5: Interpretations of the Glorious Revolution

RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION - Theme 4: Defending the Bolshevik revolution and independent coursework

BRITAIN, 1625-1701 - Theme 4: Economy, trade and empire and Theme 5: Interpretations of the Glorious Revolution

RUSSIA IN REVOLUTION - Theme 4: Defending the Bolshevik revolution and independent coursework

All Year 12 subjects Next Year 12 Subject - Geography

Year 13

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

The Great Witch Hunt, in Bamberg, Germany, 1623-32

Matthew Hopkins and the East Anglian witch craze, 1645-47

Cotton Mather and the Salem witch hunt, 1692-93

The North Berwick witches in Scotland, 1590-91 and the aftermath to 1597

The Lancashire witches of 1604-13
The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580-c1750 and independent coursework The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580-c1750 and independent coursework
Spring 1 Spring 2

Changing attitudes to witchcraft in Britain

The wider intellectual context: the coming of science and reason

The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580-c1750 and independent coursework

Paper 1 and 2 revision

The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580-c1750 and independent coursework

Paper 1 and 2 revision
Summer 1 Summer 2
External exams External exams

All Year 13 subjects Next Year 13 Subject - Geography