History topics at school

British royalty, dark ages, Napoleonic Wars, colonial Britain, Roman, Greek or Egyptian history, Victorian history, the industrial revolution, Viking history, Age of Enlightenment, Age of Discovery, history of the British Empire, Celtic and Druid history, the Boer Wars, Scottish History, the Magna Carta, Spanish Inquisition, European history, American history, WWI, WWII, History of the World Part I... Wait, that one would be under History of the Cinema.

Jeff

Not English, so I'm no help there, but have you considered working this backwards? Is there a particular history topic that would be especially amusing (or relevant) to disrupt given the rest of the novel, something that would be a subtle wink to the audience (or maybe offer a shade of foreshadowing) even if the teacher is presenting it in a dull fashion?

11 year olds would be in year seven which is key stage 3 for the national curriculum (that all state schools have to follow). If you google those terms you should be able to find the types of topics schools teach. Most schools have website with brief details of subjects studied so you could search for secondary schools in the area your story is set in too. A quick Google of the schools local to me (West Midlands) says that second term they teach medieval history which includes the Battle of Hastings, the Black Death and King John.

anaemic_mind said:

King John.

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Oh no!! You've just made me remember King John and how in First Class I used cry all the way through the poem (and set all the other tots off as well) until Sr Mary Aloysius hit on the happy idea of reminding everyone before we began that it ends well because he did get a big, red, indiarubber ball!

ETA: I can't believe anyone had to ask. I thought this was a trauma common to all western children.

ETA2: It's alright! He does get a big, red, indiarubber ball at the very end. You just have to wait.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I remember my mother reading it to me. Don't recall that it was a trauma.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Siri Kirpal said:

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I remember my mother reading it to me. Don't recall that it was a trauma.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

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#heartlesskid

Are they at primary or secondary school? (see my reply in your thread about sports) History is taught very differently in primary school.

Whether they are in year six or year seven you can look up the national curriculum. https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...iculum-in-england-history-programmes-of-study The UK has a national curriculum which dictates what's taught at what age. Both state and private schools have to follow it.

Year six is the end of key stage 2 and year 7 is the start of key stage 3.

Please read my post in the PE thread first for some background of the difference between primary and secondary. Primary is key stage 1 and 2 and secondary is key state 3 and 4, and sometimes key stage 5 (also known as sixth form for reasons that are too complex for this thread)

In year 6, teaching isn't neatly divided into "maths" "English" "history" etc - they will take one topic (e.g. the Romans, Space, etc) and teach several subjects at once within that topic. (note: not at the exact same time, but if the topic was Romans, obviously they'll learn lots of the history about Romans, but in English they'll be doing Roman themed writing tasks or studying a book set in Roman times and even in maths they'll find a way to put a Roman spin on things. Geography would be the different places in the Roman empire, etc. - the teacher won't be making big distinctions between the teaching of history, geography etc, they'll just get on and teach it. Art will be painting in a Roman style or making a mosaic, they will have a home study project that will involve making something Roman themed, etc etc. Primary school teachers are very creative.)

In year 7, they have separate teachers and classrooms for each lessons so you can pick any topic off the key stage 3 list that I linked to above. It'll be more of a traditional lesson in a classroom at desks learning about the topic. Classrooms nowadays have multimedia, e.g. interactive whiteboards and short video clips as part of the lesson.

t0dd said:

Thanks. I didn't have any "Chekhov's Gun" plans for the history lesson's specifics - though there were one or two elements in local history that were important to the background (the trickster was originally sealed away - until the MC accidentally released him - shortly before the English Civil War, and the person who officially got the credit for defeating it was also noted for defeating the Roundheads in a local battle). I'll look over the suggestions you gave.

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British teachers love to teach about local history. It's likely they will not only learn local history in lessons but also have a school trip to visit there.

My kid has just finished year 8 and studied the English Civil War this year. They might study this in year 7 but it's not really the sort of topic they'd do in primary school.

anaemic_mind said:

11 year olds would be in year seven which is key stage 3 for the national curriculum

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Though some children in year 6 will be 11, depending when their birthday is. And some in year 7 will be 12.

t0dd said:

Thanks. I didn't have any "Chekhov's Gun" plans for the history lesson's specifics - though there were one or two elements in local history that were important to the background (the trickster was originally sealed away - until the MC accidentally released him - shortly before the English Civil War, and the person who officially got the credit for defeating it was also noted for defeating the Roundheads in a local battle). I'll look over the suggestions you gave.

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If you want to include the civil war as the topic to tie it in you could change the age group? That would be covered in the year 8 curriculum.

t0dd said:

On the King John poem: was that the one by A. A. Milne (I recall it beginning something like "King John was not a good man/ He had his little ways.")?

The school's a primary school, but I gave it different teachers for different classes, based on my own experience; the primary school I attended in England when I spent a few years there (between the ages of 9 and 12) had that set-up. It was a Montessori school, though.

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How long ago was this, and was it state or private? (I'd guess private if it's Montessori.) It's unusual nowadays to still be in primary school at age 12.

Back in the late 80s state schools became standardised as the national curriculum was introduced and a lot of places that had different systems, e.g. first school, middle school, secondary school, were converted to the standard primary school, secondary school system. Before that some secondary schools didn't start until year 8 or 9. There are still some isolated districts that have older systems but they're not common.

I don't know how it works in the private sector, whether there are more non-standard schools. What you're thinking of may be more common in the private sector.

To some extent in fantasy fiction schools don't have to be the same as contemporary schools - Hogwarts is very dated in a number of ways - however Hogwarts still starts in year 7, albeit they call them first years which was the done thing for secondary schools pre-national curriculum. If it's a magical school you can do what you want really. I think Hogwarts could still have worked if it had different year groups. American kids can still relate to it even though it's based on the British system while they're familiar with the American system*. So it depends. The more fantasy/magical it is the more you can do your own thing. If it's supposed to be an ordinary state school then it would need to fit with how schools are or there'd need to be an in-story explanation as to why.


*though I've seen a number of cases where Americans think that JK Rowling invented things for Hogwarts that are standard for British schools, e.g. the house system (which is ubiquitous in private schools and fairly common in state schools), having high school exams in year 11 and year 13 (albeit they're called GCSEs and A-levels not OWLs and NEWTs lol)

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Yes, the poem is by Milne. Father and author of Christopher Robin.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

mccardey said:

Oh no!! You've just made me remember King John and how in First Class I used cry all the way through the poem (and set all the other tots off as well) until Sr Mary Aloysius hit on the happy idea of reminding everyone before we began that it ends well because he did get a big, red, indiarubber ball!

ETA: I can't believe anyone had to ask. I thought this was a trauma common to all western children.

ETA2: It's alright! He does get a big, red, indiarubber ball at the very end. You just have to wait.

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I guess I'm too much a product of my time and place. And will have that song in my head for the nedt two days.

t0dd said:

I'd like some advice, though, on one other element in the school scenes, to make certain that it's feasible. I had the teacher ask a girl in the same year as the MC to serve as a sort of "guide" to her, showing her around the school and explaining things, for the first week. (This I put in since the girl who's serving as the guide gets targeted by the trickster a lot, which plays a major role in the MC's pursuit of the trickster. So I wanted to have the two spend much time together, for the MC to notice this - and having this time together being - initially - imposed from without seemed the most likely way of bringing it about, since my MC's solitary by nature and not that interested in the early stages of the book in socializing with her classmates.) How plausible would this be for the setting?

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Yes that sounds plausible for year 7 or year 6. Teachers often do stuff like this to help new kids settle in.

ETA: I don't recall ever getting subjected to that poem. We were subjected to Shakespeare in year 8 or 9... there was Shakespeare in primary school but it was in the form of a travelling theatre that'd come to the school and put on plays, not studying the text, so that was fun.

One thought on boring - I know someone who went to school near Newbury, Berkshire - two major battles fought there during English Civil War. They heard so much about it that they were bored rigid after the first few times.