History

Intent

The History curriculum at Oxted is designed to inspire ambition, intellectual curiosity, and a secure sense of identity in all students. Our intent is to ensure every student, regardless of background, acquires powerful historical knowledge and disciplinary understanding that enhances life opportunities and prepares them for future success.

Students study a broad, rigorous curriculum that enables them to understand significant events, people, and developments in local, national, European, and wider world history. Through carefully selected enquiries, students gain a secure chronological framework from early migration to the British Isles through to developments in the post‑1945 world, including the contextualised study of the Holocaust. This chronological coherence supports students in understanding change, continuity, cause, consequence, similarity, difference, and significance.

Central to our intent is equity of access. All students encounter ambitious content aligned to the National Curriculum. Adaptations are made only where necessary to support individual need, never to limit aspiration or academic challenge. The curriculum is intentionally inclusive, reflecting diverse cultures, perspectives, and experiences, enabling students to see both Britain’s evolving role in the modern world and the global contexts that have shaped it. Including enquiries across Key Stage 3 – ‘Who are the British?’ ‘Why did the world open up in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries?’ and ‘Were black people truly emancipated by the civil rights movement?’

History is taught explicitly as a discipline. Students learn not only substantive knowledge but also how historians construct interpretations, interrogate sources, and engage with scholarship. Through exposure to interpretations, memorialisation, and historical debate, students are equipped to become critical, analytical thinkers who can apply their understanding both within and beyond the classroom.

Curriculum Design and Implementation

The curriculum is coherently sequenced and underpinned by shared curriculum values of Knowledge, Challenge, Coherence, Communication, and Memory. Schemes of Work are planned chronologically, with enquiry questions framing learning and guiding students through carefully structured component steps towards answering complex historical questions. Keystage 3 covers concepts and topics in greater depth whilst also ensuring there is enough breadth with a wide variety of enquiries. Schemes of work are explicitly planned so that students are encouraged to draw links with other enquiries, layering content and conceptual understanding

Key concepts and vocabulary are explicitly taught and revisited across key stages, supporting the development of increasingly sophisticated schema. Lessons begin with retrieval activities to strengthen long‑term memory and build secure fingertip knowledge. Regular checkpoints, including quizzes and written assessments, allow misconceptions to be identified and addressed.

Communication is foundational. Reading, writing, oracy, and disciplinary vocabulary are explicitly developed, enabling students to explain, analyse, and evaluate historical interpretations with confidence and precision. Modelled responses and scaffolded activities reduce cognitive load while maintaining high challenge for all learners.

Assessment is purposeful and proportionate. Formative assessment is embedded in everyday practice, while summative assessments assess a range of historical skills and knowledge in preparation for GCSE study. Students are supported to reflect on their learning through self‑diagnosis and feedback.

Curriculum Impact

As a result of this curriculum, students know more, remember more, and are able to do more with their knowledge over time. By the end of Key Stage 3, students demonstrate secure chronological understanding, a strong grasp of key historical concepts, and the communication skills necessary for success at GCSE.

GCSE outcomes in History are consistently in line with national expectations, reflecting the strong foundations built at Key Stage 3. Students approach historical problems with confidence, articulate informed judgements, and apply disciplinary thinking to unfamiliar contexts.

Beyond academic outcomes, the History curriculum enriches students’ personal development through enrichment activities, visits, assemblies, and engagement with the wider world. Students leave Oxted as confident, thoughtful, and informed individuals, well prepared for further study, employment, and active participation in society.

Staff Contact

Head of Department – Mr A Harney