History at the Senior School and Sixth Form

History students at St Mary’s have been adept at trying new ways of learning and have been truly creative in how they have approached their learning.

We have been particularly impressed by the digital skills they have developed in the face of learning online, showing great resilience. They have also been very collaborative through sharing their ideas and skills freely with their peers and us as teachers.

Year 7 girls excelled in their castle projects, producing everything from short films and animations to model castles using recycled materials from around their homes, to castles made of cake! Nina L. and Molly C. produced wonderful videos for their castle projects:

Meanwhile, Year 8 produced some thought-provoking work based on their investigation into the lives of slaves, including diaries and podcasts. Harriet C produced an outstanding presentation on the lives of slaves in which she also drew links to modern-day issues.

Lockdown learning also brought the best out of historians as they found new ways to express their ideas, with Year 9 excelling by overcoming the challenges of doing group presentations online.

Our older students have engaged with wider debates through the History and Politics society, keenly following the elections in the USA, and producing an outstanding resource to explain the process to the rest of the school.

2020-21 has been a year of challenge, change and creativity. We may not always have been physically together for lessons, but St Mary’s historians have found new ways to thrive as learners and create our own history.

Dr Gundy

Return to Magnolian 2021