Humanity has always loved staring backwards at the impressions it has left on the world, whether achievement or disaster. It is like a child on a beach, gazing back proudly at her trail of footprints, dwindling into the distance.
As a subject, History is that child seeing those footprints as more than just a line leading from there to here.
History is seeing them as a pattern of messages left for us; each print evidence of what happened in that moment, and each influencing the next. A cautious pause; a leap; a section obliterated by a wave when she strayed too close. Every footprint provides information. And then, of course, there may be other prints confusing the picture: which are the false ones? Who made them? Why?
Looking back becomes truly meaningful when we use that knowledge to view what surrounds us now. Knowing what went before helps us to understand why the world is the way it is and allows us to unlock solutions to its problems. And—if we’re very wise—we then look forwards and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
At The Downs Malvern, History teaches about fascinating peoples, places, and events, but also about the past’s connection to today. Key periods of British and World History are covered, from Upper Palaeolithic Spain to WW2 to the plight of the Yazidis in recent years. The chronology of topics is deliberately loose to keep the subject fresh. Different learning styles are catered for with a range of approaches and media. This stimulating course culminates in Year 8 with an IT-based research project called the Personal Project Qualification.
Every single pupil will soon be making decisions that impact society, and even small choices should be well-informed. No one can remember every historical detail learnt in childhood, but pupils will recall the themes: learning from the mistakes of the past; the interplay of money, religion, and power; that different cultures are valuable and need safeguarding (when they’re gone, they’re gone); that individuals count; that democracy is precious and vulnerable; to be wise to bias; and that things, including history itself, can be manipulated to make us seem more different from each other than we really are. And they will know that, in every age of darkness, there are heroes.
