Humanities

Hollinwood Academy Humanities at KS3 and KS4

History

Within KS3, all pupils are taught History. Additionally, some students gain accreditation in History at KS4. A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and that it should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. At Hollinwood Academy, we aim to ensure that teaching will equip pupils with the ability to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.

 

Geography

Geography Curriculum Map

Within KS3, all pupils are taught Geography which comprises of the development of Geographical skills and knowledge. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time. A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. At Hollinwood Academy, we aim to ensure that teaching will equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with an understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes.

 

How students are assessed in Humanities

All students will be formally assessed three times per academic year at the end of each topic. In addition, a baseline assessment will occur at the beginning of every new academic year and is designed to ensure that any gaps in knowledge are identified so that this may be rectified during the first term.

 

How are students grouped?

All classes are grouped according to ability when they are assigned a form group to ensure maximum progress from the start. These groups are determined from external data, internal assessments, classwork and tests. We always aim to place students in the group where they will be challenged whilst gaining confidence and making excellent progress. To ensure these groups are suitable for every student we also take into consideration their social and emotional needs to ensure all of our students can thrive in the best environment. These groups are flexible and will be monitored so there can be movement between them throughout the year to ensure all of our students can achieve their full potential.

 

What home learning are we expected to do?

All students will be set homework on a termly basis. This can either be completed at home or school will support this and homework can be completed in form time or during interventions if students require support from teachers. Homework will be a mixture of online resources, extension of learning, prior learning of new topics and personalised to meet the needs of all of our students.

History at KS3

Throughout Key Stage 3, there is a focus on covering a variety of historical themes and in year 7 we try to ensure that themes from KS2 History are briefly revisited in order to consolidate any gaps in contextual knowledge. Our courses of study for each year are thematic and topics are studies on a half termly basis. Each theme contains separate schemes of work to meet the varied academic levels of the students. Students will study 3 topics of History per year at KS3.

 

Year 7:

· Ancient Civilisations

· Medieval England

· The Tudors

 

Year 8:

· The Stuarts

· The Victorians

· World War 1

 

Year 9:

· World War 2

· The Holocaust

· The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

 

History at KS4

Within KS4, students will have the opportunity to gain accreditation in History via the Edexcel exam board. The exam board sets a variety of themes and topics for schools to choose from. Initially, topics are chosen according to teacher knowledge to ensure that the students are building strong foundations and contextual knowledge in each topic area. Topics can change year on year however, according to the demographic of the year group, so that they have the best chance of success.

 

Year 9:

· Crime and Punishment

· Whitechapel

 

Year 10:

· Weimar Germany

· Elizabethan England

 

Year 11:

· British America

· Revision and Exam Skills

 

 

 

Geography at KS3

Throughout Key Stage 3, there is a focus on covering a variety of geographical themes ensuring both physical, environmental and human geography topics are covered. Our courses of study for each year are thematic and topics are studies on a half termly basis. Each theme contains separate schemes of work to meet the varied academic levels of the students. Students will study 3 topics of Geography per year at KS3.

 

Year 7:

· Weather and Climate

· The Living World 1

· Our Restless Planet

 

Year 8:

· Rivers and Floods

· The Living World 2

· Glaciation and Climate Change

 

Year 9:

· Urbanisation

· Globalisation

· Project Study

 

 

Geography at KS4

We do not currently offer GCSE Geography at Hollinwood Academy due to teacher specialism. We will however be looking at staff training and development in this area so that we may offer accreditation in Geography in future years should a cohort present as stronger in geographical skills over historical skills.