The Department of History

While Covid related restrictions and disruption provided the background for the 2020-21 academic year it was nonetheless a successful one for the History department.

Flora Tregear from Year 13 won the Young Historians prize for Local History for writing an essay about the implications of the Great Stink (1858) beating hundreds of other students in the process. Her work was published in the Journal ‘the Historian’.

In addition to this, Ebun Bello was also highly commended by the National College of Humanities for her essay on whether liberal democracy is in decline worldwide.

The departments provision in the form of the ongoing work to develop its Key Stage 3 curriculum continued apace with a particular focus on Year 8. A move to bring a greater focus on Civil Rights in Britain from the c18 onwards provided excellent opportunities to broaden students understanding of the developments seen since the start of the agricultural and industrial revolutions while also pointing to issues which still need to be addressed. In addition to the considerable planning for the introduction of a new A Level course (The British Empire, 1857-1964) from September 2021 onwards drew much of the departments focus.

The History section of the Olavian has been left bereft by the absence of the Year 8 Battlefields trip which we hope will return in 2021-22 to re-establish what is a great highlight in the calendar as the sceptre of Covid, both for school and society more broadly, will, we trust, begin to retreat!

Daniel Espejo Head of History

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Year 7 studied the extraordinary life of Eleanor of Aquitaine who reigned in the 12th Century, both in England and France, and went on to become the mother of Richard I (the Lionheart) and King John. They looked at why she is significant in history, her influence at the time and that of the family that she raised, her time ruling England whilst Richard I was on Crusade and her life in general. It is a new topic for this year, previously the curriculum had very much focused on the Kings, but this has added some much-needed representation to our curriculum. The final task asked the pupils to write a letter to other schools to explain why Eleanor of Aquitaine should form a key part of their Year 7 curriculum. Well done to Year 7 on their fine work.