SMSC Statement – History

SMSC History

 

Spiritual development

History encourages pupils to appreciate a range of religions and beliefs and a respect for these different perspectives. Pupils may choose to reflect on their own beliefs or respect the different ideas of others. Staff encourage pupils to consider different ideas as a good non-threatening element of life and they look at the consequences when  people are not tolerant of each other.

• Y7 – medieval church and the Crusades

• Y7 – the Reformation – development of the Protestant Church and break from Rome.

• Y8 - Puritan’s involvement in the English Civil War

• Y8 – Witchcraft

• Y8 – Slavery and empire and relationships between different cultures and religions

• Y9 – Rise of communism and fascism and the Holocaust.

• The Battlefields trip places a strong emphasis on remembrance

 

Moral development

Pupils are encouraged to develop an ethical code by looking at controversial issues and appraising them through humanitarian eyes.

• Y7 – Crusades – Violence and understanding found within the  Crusades.

• Y8 – English Civil War – Emphasis is placed on the chaos and barbarism that Civil Wars can provide and also why the British government has formed to be what it is today and why that is important. Again this directly links to today and the rights of the individual. Direct links can be made with countries that do not enjoy these freedoms and democracy.

• Y8- Slavery – pupils study the rights of the individual through Slavery and the British Empire/ abolition. Strong emphasis is placed on humanitarianism, dispelling myths and promoting cultural understanding.

• Y9 – Political change, rise of Communism and Fascism.  This again provides ample opportunity to focus on the rights of the individual, genocide, horrors of war and the importance of democratic political involvement. Again we seek to enforce a humanitarian response.

• Y10 – Religion and the rise of Science in the History of Medicine. Elizabethan policies and issues with intolerance relating to religion and maintaining authority.

• Y11 – creation of dictatorship in Nazi Germany and how it had a negative impact on everyone from German society regardless of race, religion, gender and role.

• Y11 – the Vietnam conflict. Students discuss the rights and wrongs of attempting to halt a political ideology and how the American army spiralled into violence and mass murder, for example, the My Lai Massacre. Pupils look at why this happens and links are consistently made with the present day.

• The Battlefields tour enforces the rights and wrongs of war.

 

Social development

History provides a strong emphasis on the shaping of British values and the British judicial system.

• Y7- the Magna Carta

• Y8- The Break with Rome and development of the Church of England

• Y8 – Civil War and development of Parliament.

• Y8 – universal suffrage and the Peterloo Massacre

• Y8 – The rejecting of and abolition of the slave trade.

• Y9 – Suffragettes – women’s right to suffrage.

• Y9- differences between democracy and dictatorship (rights and freedoms opposed to Communism and Fascism).

• Y9- pupils study how international relations work and the complexities of dealing with political crises through modern democratic government through looking at the causes of World War One, the peace treaties that follow such as the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, which is a forerunner of the UN. Pupils look at how the League fell apart linking to the start of WW2.

• Y11 -pupils study political systems (Proportional Representation vs. First Past the Post), the key differences between democracy and dictatorship – through the creation of dictatorship in Nazi Germany.

• Y11 – Vietnam. Pupils also look at how events such as My Lai and  the Fulbright Hearings sparked moral outrage, more broadly the Vietnam War in general tackles important issues such as morality and public participation in the political process (protest movement) showing that sometimes the most effective and powerful protest is peaceful.

• The Battlefields tour emphasises the importance of remembrance to society and nation. It reinforces British social values.

 

Cultural development

The department feels strongly that History is part of and forms a nation’s culture.

• We frequently use culture from the time to illuminate events and history for pupils.

• Students are encouraged to accept and embrace other faiths, cultures and ideas.

• Y7 – Crusades – Violence and understanding found within the  Crusades.

• Y8 – English Civil War – Emphasis is placed on the chaos and barbarism that Civil Wars can provide and also why the British government has formed to be what it is today and why that is important. Again this directly links to today and the rights of the individual. Direct links can be made with countries that do not enjoy these freedoms and democracy.

• Y8- Slavery – pupils study the rights of the individual through Slavery and the British Empire/ abolition. Strong emphasis is placed on humanitarianism, dispelling myths and promoting cultural understanding.  We look at African cultures and religion.

• Y9 – Political change, rise of Communism and Fascism.  This again provides ample opportunity to focus on the rights of the individual, genocide, horrors of war and the importance of democratic political involvement. Again we seek to enforce a humanitarian response.

• Y10 - Elizabethan culture and the rise of literacy. Renaissance thinking.

• Y11 – creation of dictatorship in Nazi Germany . We look at the use of propaganda and censorship. We look at the promotion of Nazi culture and suppression of culture that does not fit with that Nazi ideal.

• Y11 – Vietnam – the protest movement