History Department
“Historians are dangerous people…they will ruin everything” – Khrushchev
Far from ruining everything we see our role in the History Department of Durham High School for Girls as informing the pupils of key events and personalities of the past in order that they might more fully understand the present and thus help shape the future.
We shadow the National Curriculum; we believe it is important that the pupils get an overview of the factors and people that have helped shape our society so we study the history of this country from 1066 to the present day. We also believe it is important to learn about significant events of the 20th century, to gain an understanding of other countries and to develop skills and techniques for dealing with a whole range of source material too. Links to the left of this page will take you to the details of our courses.
We believe that History is the most important of all the subjects that the pupils will study, and we strive to make our lessons as informative, as challenging and as enjoyable as we can. We encourage debate and argument, we know what a computer is, and we’re not afraid to use them, we use role play and other elements of active learning, we hot-seat and we try and encourage active learning from an early stage.
We also believe in the value of field work; we have visited many local sites and landmarks. Annual visits include: Fountains Abbey (Year 7); Slavery Workshop (Year 8); Durham Light Infantry Museum (Year 9); Thackray Medical Museum (Year 10); Finchale Priory (Year 11); National Archives/Houses of Parliament (Year 12 and 13).
We also value residential visits. At Easter 2010 Years 12 and 13 will be taking our biannual visit to New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC which will include the exclusive privilege of a tour of Congress. The following year we intend to run a Battlefields visit for those lower down the school.
Our exam results are superb – the product of hard-working, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff working with well motivated and receptive pupils.
“The study of History is the beginning of wisdom” - Bodin