History

At Harris Academy Clapham, students will gain a cohesive overview of the past, from the dawn of prehistory up to events and forces shaping the world we live in today.

Over this journey, students will be able to view the past through local, national and global lenses. They will develop a diverse range of knowledge concerning peoples from all over the world, furthering the Academy’s mission to foster a Global View. Furthermore, they will become confident historical thinkers, using subject-specific concepts to frame their thinking, speaking and writing. In light of these attributes, HACL students will conduct themselves at all times like professional historians. 

• Students will develop an understanding of a range of historical events, periods, and people that have shaped Britain and the wider world. 

• Students will learn about the importance of local, national, and global history across a range of time periods, from prehistory to the present.  

• On a local scale, students will have an opportunity to learn about the development of London and Lambeth from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. 

• On a national scale, students will learn about the development of the church, state, and society as well as the changes to ideas and political power. 

• On a global scale, students will learn about Britain’s role in slavery, empire, and the conflicts of the 20th century. 

• Students will also get the opportunity to study people and places beyond Britain, including Islamic civilization and the experience of the countries torn apart by genocide from Europe under Nazi Germany to Rwanda and Cambodia.  

• Students will understand historical concepts such as cause and consequence and change and continuity. They will understand how these concepts are used by historians to analyse a given topic and then form an interpretation.  

• In this way, students will learn how to act like professional historians, study topics in-depth by investigating different sources, evidence, and interpretations.  

• Students will learn how to evaluate sources and interpretations, creating their own arguments and demonstrating that they are taking a range of views formed by historians into account.  

• Students will be equipped with the historical literacy and vocabulary skills that they need to express themselves and turn their ideas into well-structured historical responses.  

• In this way, students will become skilled writers of history by consistent use of subject-specific reasoning and argument construction.  

• Through this provision, students will become critical thinkers about the wider world and their place within it.