History is all around us. In a complicated world, the study of history provides you with the ability to define and understand a lot more of what you read, see and experience in your day to day life and can provide answers to the questions, both large and small, which suggest themselves along our way.

What exactly does the Queen do? Why was Henry VIII really important? What leads one group of people to persecute and murder another group of people? What is Great Britain? How was such a small country once so powerful? What is the United Nations? Why is English spoken so widely? Why did towns and cities develop? The list could go on – and the study of history can help provide answers to more questions than you might think.

The study of history is really two things. It is the study of progress – how human beings have developed, changed and invented their way to become the collection of nations and societies which exist today. It is also an investigation. The word history comes from the ancient Greek word historia which means ‘to enquire’. Both of these definitions form part of the ethos of the history department at St Edmund Arrowsmith. Every history lesson will start with an enquiry question with the aim of supporting you as you develop your ability to investigate historical events and make decisions about their causes, their consequences and how much things have changed over time. It will equip you to investigate the motives and values of people who lived long ago and what lessons we can learn today from their achievements and their mistakes.

History lessons at St Edmund Arrowsmith seek to promote a range of important, transferable skills and to engage pupils of all abilities in the study of our past. It is important to us that you develop a good understanding of key events from British and European history and a working knowledge of politics and government, to allow you to better understand the world around you, but also that we improve your ability to think critically about sources of information – to read, interpret and evaluate with skill.

Beyond the classroom, the history department offer a range of extra-curricular opportunities ranging from trips to our History Society project and research group – further detail can be found in the student enrichment section.

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