History *
Everything that has ever been done or achieved is “history,” meaning that history directly affects us every day, with today’s society shaped by periods of industrialisation, colonialism, war, disease epidemics and so on.
History spans all cultures, eras and environments and can be called upon for knowledge and insight into how the world arrived at the position it finds itself in today, and how it will continue to develop in the future.
The History curriculum at Harris Academy Ockendon has been carefully designed to inspire students to learn about the past and how it has shaped the world we live in today. It is increasingly important, in a world where students are bombarded by often unverifiable and potentially unreliable news via social media, that they are equipped with the skills and understanding to make sense of what they experience. We aim to enable students to interpret news and global issues in their historical context and to make them aware of how cultural and national identities arise and are defined.
We endeavour to create outstanding historians who have enquiring minds and a passion for the subject. The HAOC History department consistently strives to ensure that all students have access to an ambitious and rigorous curriculum being exposed to powerful knowledge to become well-rounded historians with the careful mapping of knowledge and skills. The curriculum aims to develop a strong disciplinary knowledge of History where students can confidently interrogate the past and are able to discuss key historical concepts such as causation, continuity, change and significance with confidence and fluency. Students will become historians by investigating sources of evidence and becoming familiar with historical arguments through examining interpretations, a valuable skill that helps our students truly understand and interrogate what they read.
Moreover, the History curriculum nurtures an understanding of the British values of diversity, tolerance, equality and democracy that is developed through exciting and thoughtful enquiries of traditional topics within British History and through topics that move beyond the traditional canon of British History education. We will explore the nature of power and authority, and how it impacts Britain and the world; we study the long, painful struggle for civil rights in Britain and other nations; we will scrutinise the inexorable rise of technology and its impact on how we live, work and go to war; we will study forms of extreme political ideology and the prejudices that often give rise to them. Elements of local history will be woven into our curriculum to give students a sense of how their community links to national and global events. Students will also study part of the World War Two unit with a local history focus to explore the events and impact on Thurrock and the surrounding area. This provides students with the opportunity for a depth study in the British experience of war with a local stance including topics such as the Blitz, evacuation and how the local environment contributed to D-day success in 1944.
The History curriculum will produce young adults who not only are able to understand and interpret the world around them, but also possess a range of skills which are highly valued. No other subject develops the sophisticated ability to critically evaluate the utility of texts, extract relevant information from them, make links to other knowledge, and then present a reasoned argument. It is no wonder that History qualifications are valued in such fields as law, journalism, and administration, as well more obviously historical routes such as archaeology, museum curation and teaching.