History Seminar @ St Cuthbert's

This month, A Level History students from Sacred Heart High School joined other secondary school students from across the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, to take part in an A/A* A-Level History Workshop, delivered by the incredibly experienced and highly esteemed local historian (and former teacher) David Ferriby.

David is also a long-serving writer and examiner for Hodder and AQA, with extensive experience of delivering student workshops and teacher training, as well as contributing to a plethora of GCSE and A Level textbook, alongside many other materials.

Students spent time looking at exam skills for both papers and different types of questions. They studied and discussed sample answers, and were simply captivated by David’s ‘pearls of wisdom’ when it came to his recommendations on exam technique and historical anecdotes that specifically linked to topic content.

Students were also clearly guided through the NEA (non-examined assessment element), reinforcing the key messages of their subject teachers. Throughout the day, students had the opportunity to both ask and answer questions with David, whilst making notes on specifically produced resources to take away and revise from.

Overall, students left feeling uplifted by the academic and intellectual atmosphere of the workshop, and more confident in the lead up to their KS5 exams in summer term. There was a real buzz on the journey back to school! Sacred Heart students very much enjoyed meeting other A Level History students and teachers from the Trust too. An extremely collaborative event, that has certainly raised motivation and aspirations even further across this year’s cohort.

Some feedback from Year 13 Historian Sandy Kaur on her experience of the seminar:

“The overall workshop was very insightful. It not only provided new knowledge to help further my understanding of writing a cohesive essay, but it also helped develop my critical thinking skills by prompting questions that help me make a better substantiated judgement. Not only that, but the lecture style of the workshop also gave me a taste of what I would be experiencing in university. I've taken a lot back from the trip.”