Curriculum Implementation

At Deyes High School, History is taught through a carefully sequenced and ambitious curriculum that builds knowledge, deepens understanding, and inspires curiosity about the past. Our subject specialists have thoughtfully designed the curriculum across all key stages to ensure that learning is coherent, connected, meaningful, and responsive to the needs of all learners.

We structure our curriculum across a seven-year journey composed of a three-year Key Stage 3, followed by two years at Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and two years at Key Stage 5 (A Level). At each key stage, students revisit key concepts and develop both substantive knowledge (of historical events, people and periods) and disciplinary knowledge (understanding how historians investigate and interpret the past). This supports long-term learning and prepares students to think and write like historians.

At Key Stage 3, students begin a seven-year historical journey that spans from the early great empires through to the modern day. They explore the development of England and Britain, beginning with the Norman Conquest, the struggles for power in the medieval and early modern periods, the impact of the two World Wars, and the changing role of the USA in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Students also have opportunities to study local history, including Liverpool’s quest to become a city, its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, the Toxteth Riots, and the Hillsborough tragedy. These topics help students to understand how national and global histories are reflected in their own community, while promoting a broader, more inclusive historical perspective.

The curriculum is designed to build chronological understanding and develop second-order historical concepts such as cause and consequence, change and continuity, significance, and interpretations. Lessons are carefully planned to build on prior knowledge, encouraging students to make meaningful connections across time and place.

Following consultation with students, we have also enhanced our curriculum to reflect greater diversity and inclusivity, ensuring that a wider range of perspectives, experiences and voices are represented and valued throughout all key stages.
GCSE History is delivered over two years and follows the Edexcel specification. The curriculum offers a broad and rich understanding of British and international history, developing students’ analytical and extended writing skills. The three exam topics are:

  • Paper 1: Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000 to the present day (including a case study of Whitechapel, 1870–1900);
  • Paper 2: Henry VIII and his Ministers, 1509–1540 and Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941–91;
  • Paper 3: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–1939. These topics allow students to explore a wide range of historical contexts, while also encouraging them to make links beyond the specification through wider reading, debate, and further enquiry.

Students embark on the final two years of their seven-year journey in History by studying two examined units and one coursework investigation. The A Level course follows the AQA specification and includes two units taught simultaneously: 1L: The Quest for Political Stability: Germany, 1871–1991, and 2S: The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007. Our Historical Investigation allows students to lead their own enquiry into the fascinating topic of The Witchcraze. These units develop students’ understanding of political, social, economic, and cultural change over time, while encouraging independence, critical thinking, and high-level historical enquiry. Beyond the specification content, students engage with historical scholarship and complex interpretations to develop academic confidence and prepare for university-level study.

We are proud members of the Historical Association and work closely with School Improvement Partners to ensure our curriculum remains high quality, rigorous, and responsive to the needs of our students. We regularly review our provision and use student voice to adapt and enhance the curriculum. We also provide targeted support and challenge to ensure our most vulnerable learners are not only included but thrive in History.

To ensure all students, including those with SEND and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, access the full richness of the curriculum, staff receive ongoing professional development. This includes training on adaptive teaching, inclusive pedagogy, and evidence-informed strategies to remove barriers to learning. Our teachers are committed to delivering an ambitious and accessible curriculum that meets the needs of every student.

Our aim is for every student to leave Deyes High School with a strong grasp of the past, the ability to think critically about evidence and interpretations, and a lifelong curiosity about how history shapes the world we live in today.

Pedagogical approach

The pedagogical approach for History at Deyes High School aligns with the LLT Teaching and Learning Policy and is underpinned by evidence-based practice. Subject specialists deliver the History curriculum through 60-minute lessons, with four lessons per fortnight at Key Stage 3, five lessons per fortnight at Key Stage 4, and nine lessons per fortnight at Key Stage 5.

All lessons are structured using Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction and strategies from ‘Teach Like a Champion’. These approaches are embedded across the department to ensure that new knowledge is taught explicitly, practiced deliberately, and revisited regularly. Lesson episodes are carefully designed to enable students to store knowledge in their long-term memory, building schema and strengthening their ability to recall and apply historical content and concepts over time.

To support this, we implement ongoing formative and summative assessment throughout each key stage. This includes regular Checking for Understanding (CFU) assessments, Low-Stakes Quizzes, and Revisit Tasks at carefully chosen intervals to reinforce prior learning and identify misconceptions. Assessment is used not only to inform teaching but also to support retrieval and strengthen long-term retention of core knowledge and historical concepts. Additionally, students receive high-quality feedback that is timely, specific, and actionable. This allows them to reflect on their learning and make meaningful improvements, supporting further progress. Together, these strategies ensure that assessment is an integral part of the learning process and helps every student to achieve their potential in History.

Lessons

Lessons in History at Deyes High School are carefully structured to ensure students build a secure and connected understanding of the past. Each lesson begins with a ‘Do Now’ retrieval task, allowing students to recall and activate prior knowledge, strengthening long-term memory and preparing them to make meaningful links with new content.

Each lesson is guided by ‘The Big Questions’, which focuses students on a central historical idea or problem. These lesson-level questions build cumulatively towards answering the overarching enquiry question for the unit, ensuring coherence and purpose across sequences of learning.

New content is introduced in small, manageable steps, with explicit modelling used to scaffold understanding. In History, this includes modelling how to evaluate sources, analyse interpretations, and construct well-reasoned arguments. Where appropriate, mnemonics are used to support memory and organisation of ideas.

Lessons provide regular opportunities for both guided and independent practice, allowing students to apply new knowledge in a range of tasks that promote disciplinary thinking. Adaptive questioning, including techniques such as ‘right is right’, ensures misconceptions are identified and addressed, and that students can articulate their thinking accurately and confidently.

All lessons are delivered in a way that is inclusive, with adaptations made thoughtfully and based on the best available evidence. These adaptations are informed by collaboration with SEND and pastoral specialists across the school, ensuring they meet individual student needs while maintaining high academic expectations for all learners. Support strategies are reviewed regularly to ensure that they enable rather than dilute learning, allowing every student to succeed within the shared curriculum framework.

To deepen engagement and comprehension, students take part in decision-making and simulation activities that encourage them to step into the shoes of historical actors. These tasks help students connect factual knowledge with complex historical perspectives.

Formative and summative assessment is used thoughtfully across each half-term and is tightly aligned to curriculum goals. Low-stakes quizzes, Checking for Understanding tasks, and revisit activities support ongoing review and progression.

The curriculum is enriched through local context, careers links, and cultural capital. Students engage with essential knowledge reading to extend depth and breadth, supported by curated reading lists, documentaries, and film recommendations throughout all our seven-year journey.

Literacy and Numeracy

Students in History are supported to communicate clearly using precise subject vocabulary, including command words and Tier 2 and 3 terms essential for historical understanding. At the start of every unit, students receive Knowledge Organisers containing key vocabulary and concepts, which they can reference throughout their learning to reinforce understanding and retention.

Across Key Stages 3, 4, and 5, carefully selected essential reading is provided to deepen learning and is explicitly tailored to the curriculum. This includes a range of texts such as sources, historical interpretations, and academic works that develop students’ reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. The History department recognises common barriers to academic reading, including vocabulary limitations and dysfluency, and offers targeted support to help all students access challenging materials. Reading strategies, including phonics reinforcement where appropriate, are explicitly taught to improve comprehension and engagement with complex texts.

To develop oracy and historical reasoning, students engage in structured discussions, debates, and practical activities that encourage them to articulate ideas clearly and connect knowledge. Extended writing tasks consolidate learning and develop historical argumentation skills. Teaching is adapted to meet the needs of all learners, ensuring high expectations are maintained while enabling every student to succeed.

Additionally, numeracy is embedded in History lessons using timelines, graphs, and statistics, helping students understand chronology, scale, and data analysis. Students develop skills in interpreting quantitative evidence, comparing figures across periods, and applying numeracy within historical enquiry to deepen their understanding.