History Conference
The event was designed to give GCSE students from LGS and other local schools the chance to hear leading academics talk about two core areas of our GCSE course and to participate in a panel discussion about the merits of History as an academic subject.
Our two guests were Dr Paul Moore (from Leicester University) who spoke about the Terror state in 1930’s Germany and Professor Mark Connelly (from The University of Kent) who spoke about the First World War - ‘Why the Allies Won’.
The panel for the last part of the morning was composed of Professor Connelly and 2 former students - one who now works in investment and another who is a corporate lawyer. Both studied History at A Level.
Aims
The aim was to give GCSE students the chance to listen to and ask questions of 2 leading academics, to help them evaluate the importance of various factors in the key episodes in History covered by the 2 talks and to explore and understand more about the merits of History as a subject for future study – where it can take you, subjects it combines with.
Pupils from local state schools benefitted from the conference, as well as those from our own school.
Background
The idea was conceived by a senior member of the History Department. Both Dr Moore and Professor Connelly have spoken previously at the school. They are out and out enthusiasts and the History department think it is vital that all students hear from experts and are made to think and challenge ideas that others may have told them.
This is the first year the event has been held.
Resources
Financial cost to the school – as the conference was held during a school day, no additional costs were incurred, apart from reimbursing travel costs from Canterbury for Professor Connelly.
The main school hall was used as the venue - St Nicholas Hall.
Three members of teaching staff from the History department attended, alongside staff from the other state schools attending with their students. The school sound and lighting technician set up the audio-visual equipment in advance of the afternoon.
The event started at 9.45 and finished by 12.40. Each lecture was about 50 minutes plus question time; the final session lasted about 35 minutes. We built in some short breaks.
Impact
Difficult to gauge but we thought it was a great success! The students seemed to enjoy the talks, there were good questions and our guests have all said very positive things about their experiences.
Feedback from state schools invited:
"Don’t know who enjoyed it more the students or the member of staff I sent. Thank you!" Deputy Head from Gartree School.
"Please do pass on our gratitude to Mr Allen and all colleagues for a brilliantly organised event. 75% of our students rated the Conference as either Good or Excellent, with all 3 sections drawing admiring comments - 'hearing what the experts have to say', 'the talk on the Gestapo was particularly interesting', 'it made WW1 make much more sense', 'the panel time really made me think about studying History at University'. Thanks once again for arranging all of the details and do please let me know if another such Conference is planned." Head of History, Robert Smyth School.
Pupil Involvement
GCSE – both Year 10 and 11.
250+ from the other schools and 120 or so from LGS.
Frequency
This is a one off event currently, but the success of this year's History Conference may mean that it becomes an annual event.