Knowing and understanding about the past means you can make sense of the present. Our students enjoy a rich and broad curriculum, investigating and understanding the main events that have shaped how we live today. Our intention is for our students to become skilled in the use of source material and to do that, they need to be able to ask insightful questions or as Hajo Holborn the German-American historian declared:

“History gives answers only to those who know how to ask questions.”

Whilst our curriculum spans the past 1,500 years, the focus of most enquiries lie with the period AD1000 to AD1990 and the main narrative used to anchor understanding is based upon the following 7 principles:

1. Global reach: Students study international history and the UK’s place within this.

2. The ordinary with the extraordinary: We set out to ensure that all students investigate what was typical in a given time period or society as well as what was exceptional. The aim here is to engender students with historical perspective and be able to explain typical features of a society rather than learning about a series of one-off major events brought about by the rich and powerful.

3. Creating suspicion: Students do not accept information at face value.

4. Considered judgements (depth studies): Students are taught to understand that their judgements and explanations will only have credibility once they have considered other viewpoints and made on sound evidence available.

5. Oracy: The spoken word carries the same weight as the written word in History.

6. Universal issues: Examine the fundamental issues in human history.

7. Cultural Capital: enrich the curriculum whenever possible for all students rather than just those that can afford school visits. Opportunities for students to see, meet and work with people outside of their own sphere of influence.

Extra-curricular opportunities so far in 2023-2024:

Year 7 Archaeology digs in Clare Castle Country Park; Year 8 WW1 Themed Day; Year 9 Immigration Nation Day

GCSE History

GCSE students at Stour Valley Community School study the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations Board Schools History Project course. This comprises of 5 units, each worth 20% of the final examination: Elizabethan Depth Study, the Making of the USA 1789-1900, Living in Nazi Germany 1933-1945, Study of USAAF Lavenham during World War Two and Crime and Punishment c.1250-present.

For more information, please email Miss Terry, Miss Howard or Miss Cooper