History at

St. George’s

OUR AIMS

We aim to promote interest in the people and events which have shaped our modern world. We hope to encourage a questioning approach in learning and to develop skills in reading, in extended writing, and in interpreting and evaluating evidence to reach informed conclusions. We encourage independence in thought and action, based on the development of informed attitudes about historical and contemporary issues.

OUR FOCUS

Working together to ensure, for all our students:

• Opportunityto engage with the past and relate it to their lives

• Progression• curriculum• skills

• Challengeof thinking critically and developing informed opinions

• Developmentas an individual to meet personal goals

Engagement

EARLY YEARS

All About MeDrag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

• Self

• Family

• Nursery

• Community

ENGAGEMENT

JUNIOR SCHOOL

• Primary 2: Toys topic • Grandparents / connection with the past• Artefacts

• Primary 3: Victorians• Hopetoun House• Artefacts

• Primary 4: World War Two and the Romans• Grandparents• Artefacts

• Primary 5: Scotland• Visiting historic sites e.g. Wallace Monument, Bannockburn

Compare and contrastWorld War Two drama

EMPATHYPrimary 4 as World War Two evacuees

Artefacts

I am aware that different

types of evidence can help

me to find out about the past.

SOC 0-01a

Understanding legacy

I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing

them within an historical sequence.

SOC 2-06a

EvaluationI can compare aspects of

people’s daily lives in the past with my own by using historical evidence or the experience of

recreating an historical setting. SOC 1-04a

EMPATHYI have explored how people lived

in the past and have used imaginative play to show how

their lives were different from my own and the people around me.

SOC 0-04a

ExperiencePrimary 5 at Bannockburn

Skills in writing

JUNIOR SCHOOL PRIMARY 1 – PRIMARY 5

• Writing short reports of events or experiences

• Imaginative historical writing

e.g. A Day in the Life of a Victorian Schoolgirl;

Wallace or Edward I’s account of the Battle of Stirling Bridge

• Research based presentations

Primary 3 Thinkers’ KeysThe Victorians

The Commonality Key • Two Victorian Objects – a flat iron and a chalk board –

slateboard

•  Clothing: Modern Day / Victorian

• Toys: Modern Day / Victorian

The Alternative Key• How do you clean a carpet? i.e. without using a brush or a

hoover – no electricity etc.

The Variations Key• How did a maid ever change her working position?

• How did Victorians cope with the cold?

• How did the Victorians entertain themselves?

• How did they tell the time?

EnGagement

LOWER SCHOOL – PRIMARY 6

• Historical dramaWriting, performing and filming own Greek

plays

• WorkshopsGreek myths with Drama specialists

Democracy, the Greek alphabet and festivals with Classics specialists

EMPATHYPrimary 6 study of Ancient

Greece

SKILLS IN WRITING

LOWER SCHOOL – PRIMARY 6

• Research based presentations or projects on the Greek legacy

• Creative historical writingAriadne’s diary

• Script writing

• Report writing

ResearchDrag picture to placeholder or click icon to add

Research based project on the Greek legacy

ENGAGEMENT

LOWER SCHOOL – REMOVE and LOWER 4

• History club activities

• Local visits• Exploring the anatomical drawings of Leonardo

da Vinci at the Queen’s Gallery• Seeing historical sites – Inchcolm Abbey,

Blackness Castle, Jedburgh Abbey, Holyrood Palace, Linlithgow Palace

EXPERIENCERemove outside the Hermit’s

Cell on Inchcolm Island

EXperIENCEReady to receive instructions in

the Chapter House

Creativity

Skills in writing

LOWER SCHOOL - REMOVE and LOWER 4• Short descriptions or explanations

• Creative historical writing

• Evidence based argument and speeches for debates

• Short analytical essays weighing up one factor against others

How far do you agree that Mary Queen of Scots brought about her own downfall?

HANDLING WRITTEN EVIDENCE

LOWER SCHOOL - REMOVE and LOWER 4

• Remove

developing thinking about written interpretations

• Lower 4

developing skills in handling written evidence

- Interpreting and inferring meaning

- Setting sources in context

- Considering provenance and purpose

ENGAGEMENT

SENIOR SCHOOL

• Local, national and international trips

William Wallace letters and the Great Tapestry of Scotland

Battlefields of World War 1 – 2012 and 2014

Washington DC – 2014

Moscow and St. Petersburg – 2016 (tbc)

• Archive film, feature films

FamilyFinding a relative’s grave on the

Western Front

FamilyThe memorials of the First World

War on the Western Front

EmPathy

The M

PRIDEIn the work of the 51st Highland

Division on the Somme

EXPERIENCEExperiencing a Japanese tea ceremony

A SENSE OF PLACE

A SENSE OF HISTORY

engagementCASE STUDY: UPPER 4 BLOG WITH TEXAS

Engagement POSTED NEWS ARTICLE ON EDMODO

ENGAGEMENTSTUDENT BLOG – “HAS MLK’S DREAM BEEN REALISED”

Skills in writing

SENIOR SCHOOL

UPPER 4• Short descriptions or explanations

• Creative historical writing

• Evidence based debate and discussion

• Short analytical essays weighing up one factor against others

GCSE

• Building on skills from L4 and U4 - short descriptions and explanations

- analytical essays weighing up one factor against others

• Developed analytical essays weighing up two factors

SKILLS IN WRITING

SENIOR SCHOOL

• HigherAnalytical essays evaluating and weighing up a range of factors:

To what extent were British actions during the period 1914-18 responsible for the escalation of tension in Ireland?

• Advanced HigherAnalytical essays evaluating and weighing up a range of factors with reference to historiographical perspectives:

‘ How far was Stalin’s rise to power due to his opportunism?’

EXTENDED WRITING

• GCSE controlled assessmentExtended analytical essay making use of a range of primary and

secondary source material

• Higher extended essay

Extended analytical essay making use of a range of secondary source material

• Advanced Higher dissertation

Socialist realism: how much more was there to cultural development in the Soviet Union under Stalin than pure propaganda?

To what extent was the Emperor a symbol of national unity rather than a possessor of real power between 1850 and 1912?

HANDLING WRITTEN EVIDENCE

SENIOR SCHOOL

Upper 4 – Upper 5

• Progression of skills in handling written evidence

- Interpreting and inferring meaning

- Setting sources in context

- Considering provenance and purpose

• Developing skills in evaluating the perspective of a source using contextual knowledge

HANDLING WRITTEN EVIDENCE

GCSE Controlled Assessment

• Extended written evaluation of primary sources

• Extended analytical essay making use of a range of primary and secondary source material

HANDLING WRITTEN EVIDENCE

Lower 6 and Upper 6

• Considering the utility of primary evidence

• Cross-referencing primary evidence

• Evaluating the perspective of a source using contextual knowledge

• Considering alternative interpretations

• Engaging with current historiography

UNIVERSITY…

2013

• University of Dundee American Studies and History

• The University of Aberdeen History

• The University of Aberdeen History

• University of Bristol History

• University of Exeter History

• University of Glasgow History

• University of St Andrews History

• University of St Andrews Modern History and Spanish

• The University of Edinburgh Scottish History

• University of St Andrews Scottish History

University…

2014

• University of St Andrews Ancient History

• University of St Andrews Ancient History

• The University of Aberdeen History

• University of Bristol History

• University of Bristol History

• University of York History

• University of St Andrews Modern History

• University of York English and History

…and beyond

ANNA

• Completed her A Level in History at St. George’s in 2000.

• Completed a BA in Modern History from University College London, an MSc in Human Rights from London School of Economics, and an LLM from the London School of Economics in Public International Law.

• Now a Research Analyst for the International Crisis Group, an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict.