History

History lessons at Bishop Justus stimulate curiosity and involve all students in their learning. The following key points are a brief summary of core principles:

Retrieval practice emphasising recall of core knowledge. 5 a day completed in backs of books as quick retrieval practice at the start of each lesson.

Core knowledge discussed and agreed in department meetings ahead of each new enquiry.

Enquiry question to guide each sequence of lessons, with regular links made back to the enquiry question through the course of each lesson.

Big questions / themes for all KS3/4 year groups which should be referred back to when relevant.

Introductions to lessons which build curiosity and engagement – eg through intriguing images from the past.

Strong lesson conclusions drawing together the learning from the lesson.

Regular targeted questioning which includes all students in the lesson.

Emphasis on knowledge acquisition and retention.

Use of second-order concepts to structure student thinking through each enquiry: causation, consequence, change, diversity, significance.

Students engaging with historical sources and interpretations.

Students taught explicitly how to structure their writing in History, largely based around Point, Evidence, Explanation paragraphs.

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