History
Head of Department
Mr M Bajkowski
Qualifications
- BA Hons in History
- PGCE Secondary Education and History
“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree”
Michael Crichton
History studies at Pleckgate aims provides pupils with the skills to analyse and de-construct interpretations of the past in order for them to better understand the world today. We want our pupils to view and understand their present world by knowing who, how and what has helped to shape it. Knowing our pupils’ own heritage has helped to construct a curriculum that reflects culture, change and development showing how key events and individuals have shaped and impacted on history over time.
We have sequenced our curriculum to better help pupils understand it (understand what?). Through overarching enquiry questions that produce both broad, thematic and depth study, we traverse through the most important events in history for our pupils. Through this journey we deepen our use of disciplinary knowledge such as; cause and consequence, similarity and difference, change and continuity, significance and interpretations as well as understanding a sense of time and place.
Beyond the classroom we venture into a deeper understanding of the world through independent study that is anchored in the classroom. For example, in Year 8 classwork when we look at the issue of women’s suffrage in Britain, the homework transports us to New Zealand and their woman’s suffrage movement. This is then enriched by a trip to the People’s History museum in Manchester so that when we revisit this issue in Year 11, our pupils have a broader and deeper context with which to evaluate, contrast and unpick similarity and difference.
Enrichment plays a crucial role in our curriculum. Pupils need to understand local, national and international history. We immerse pupils in the history of our local community including the growth of cotton towns, castles and manor houses. Speakers are invited into school to share their experiences expert knowledge on topics such as the impact of the Indian Army in WW11.
We are passionate about our curriculum and want pupils to be enquiring, challenging and excited about learning history; we want them to understand the relevance to today’s modern world and be able to make links over time. We have strong links with the Historical Association, attend and speak at events across the country and have used this knowledge to help pupils develop excellent subject knowledge.
Please note, every subject exercise book your child has contains a subject ‘Pleckgate Learning Journey’ that outlines the content covered, timelines and assessment points for the current year.
