The Anne Frank Exhibition – in December 2009 the prestigious Anne Frank exhibition will be at the Petchey Academy for two weeks.  Our learners will have the opportunity to become guides and show around children from local primary schools, as well has benefit from high level sessions on the lessons we can learn today from Anne Frank’s life.

Model United Nations – from December 2009 learners at the Petchey Academy will have the opportunity to participate in role plays of United Nations conferences in which learners play the role of ambassadors from different countries.  The December Conference will be on Land Mines.

Debating – the Petchey Academy has teamed up with the charity Debate Mate and students from Oxford and Cambridge Universities and Imperial College to offer the most comprehensive and intensive debating programme in London.

Trips – we are in the process of expanding the range of trips on offer from the history department.  We expect to offer our first international trip to Year 8 in April 2009 and to start a residential trip to Europe for GCSE learners in October 2010.

Useful links:  http://history.posterous.com – this is a site developed by history teachers at the Petchey Academy to aid learning of students at the school

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/

& www.learningcurve.gov.uk – are excellent sites to use to start researching historical topics

www.activehistory.co.uk – has lots of interactive activities, which are especially useful for revising (see Mr Jenkins a username and password).

How we learn history - In history lesson we combine developing high level writing skills with active learning techniques, including role plays, debates, games, podcasting and blogging.

Year 11

In November of year 11 learners complete their controlled assessment.  They will be able to do this either on the Civil Rights Movement or the Impact of the Second World War on Hackney.  In January of year 11 learners take their exam on Medicine through Time.  They will complete their GCSE in June with a document based paper on Surgery in the Nineteenth Century.

Year 10

Learners take the first module of their GCSE paper.  All students will take the paper on Germany 1918-1945.  Some can take the Medicine through Time paper early.  There is also a focus on Public Health Care from 1350-2009.

Year 9

Pupils start their GCSE course in year 9.  They are introduced to Medicine through Time, where the focus is on Medieval Medicine and medicine in the Renaissance.  In addition learners study Germany 1918-1933.  Learners will also have the opportunity to take part in the Model United Nations programme.

Year 8

One key element of our year 8 history course is the innovative debating unit in which all our learners work in small groups over a 16 week period with leading debaters from the nation’s top universities.  We also focus on how we should tell the story of the abolition of the slave trade and what the civil rights movement achieved.  Learners also study the industrial, demographic and political changes of the nineteenth century, the changing role of women during the Second World War, and complete a depth study on Ancient China.

Year 7

In year 7 we focus on local history and using evidence.  We also consider the changing role of the monarch and Church over time, the significance of the Norman Conquest and how the Black Death changed people’s lives.