Welcome to the Key Stage 4 section of the site. There are a significant number of history department sites where the target is clearly GCSE history students themselves. This site’s focus is quite different. It has been written for history subject leaders and classroom teachers. In particular, we are gearing up for the new history GCSEs in September 2016, which will soon be upon us now, and will be featuring planning as well as outstanding lessons in the months ahead.
Rather than produce even more lessons on familiar topics we are going to focus our attention on the topics that have not really featured at GCSE level for quite a while. So expect lessons over the summer of 2016 on:
1. Migration 2. Elizabethan England 3. Medieval Britain 4. The Vikings
You might like to start with the Blog which deals with choice of specification.You will find that there is a wealth of advice on all aspects of leading history. Because I have spent so much of my professional life improving schools’ GCSE history results I have accumulated considerable knowledge of what works, which I want to pass on. The 25 history departments I worked with recently showed an average improvement of half a GCSE grade for every student compared to the results two years previously. As you might expect, therefore, the sections on raising attainment and using data have had a massive influence on those departments that have already acted on the advice. Colleagues I have worked with have kindly contributed short case studies describing how they managed to bring about rapid and substantial improvement. You can’t find this sort of material elsewhere.
Many of you reading this will be subject leaders. You are well-catered for especially in the area of monitoring. You are given shrewd advice on classroom observation, feeding back to colleagues, carrying out pupil interviews and how to conduct an effective work scrutiny. When there is just so much to do when leading a history team, you will be grateful for the excellent advice on prioritisation and forward planning – advice that really works.Likewise with monitoring. The incredibly useful advice on conducting student, interviews and work scrutiny will prove every bit as helpful as the very practical advice on classroom observation and feeding back to colleagues. If you are looking for guidance on prioritising and forward planning you will find not only advice but an element of interactivity.For many of you, the site will simply prove to be a source of inspiration. You may choose to visit the very popular 100 great teaching ideas, or the equally influential imaginative learning activities, all of which have been tried and tested by many teachers.
Most anachronism activities used in schools are the rather naff ones put before Y7 pupils in an introduction to What is History. You know the sort of thing: Roman soldiers wearing wrist watches.
This activity is... 
We all know that the learning experience for students at Key Stage 4 could be more varied in some schools. Students have told us that, time and again. The lessons are effective but not exciting, they say. Given the spectre of exam results, value...
Learning in Key Stage 4 history lessons is nearly always good but rarely is it outstanding. Because we are so aware of the examination requirements and the need to induct history students into the black art of exam technique, we tend to do too...
