Mr FarrellHead of History
The Humanities faculty is made up of the Geography, History and RE departments. Each department is staffed by specialists.
Geography is led by Lydia Molineux, who joined Wilnecote in January 2022 from De Ferrers school in Burton and specialises in physical geography, in particular soils, hazards, and ecosystems (and how plants and animals adapt to their environment). She is supported by David Meer, who did his initial training here in 2019 and then joined as an NQT in 2020. He specialises in human geography, in particular issues connected to migration, giving the department a good balance of experience and expertise.
History is led by Ian Farrell, who has taught at Wilnecote since 2000 and is also the Head of Humanities. His specialism is the early Modern Period, in particular Reformation Europe, the European witchcraze and the English Civil War. He is supported by Amy Ferris, who joined the school in 2023, having started teaching in 2009. Her specialism is modern history, with a particular focus on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Her dissertation was on The Warsaw Ghetto. Also joining the department in September 2023 is Emma Leary, who has taught History since 2004 and has been a lead practitioner, a Head of History and Second in RE. Her specialisms are also focused on modern history and include the Causes of World War One, Crime and Punishment in Modern Britain, The Cold war and Vietnam.
RE is led by Cathy Day, who joined Wilnecote 16 years ago. Her specialism is in Christian beliefs and practices, with a particular focus on ethical issues. She is supported in RE by Amy Ferris and Emma Leary.
As a whole, therefore, the faculty has an excellent balance of experience and expertise, which enables it to be dynamic in its thinking. The individual departments meet separately to discuss subject specific issues and plan specialist schemes but there is also a strong Humanities ethos, with a shared vision which drives what we are trying to achieve and a genuine team atmosphere which means that ideas on teaching and learning are shared at a whole faculty level.
Vision for History at The Wilnecote School
- Students should develop a love of history based round the key ideas of investigating why events occur and “arguing” about the significance/importance of events/causes/consequences. They should understand that there is often no right answer to the big questions of history!
- Students should be inspired by grappling with genuine historical controversies (eg Davison: accident or suicide? Who was Jack the Ripper? Who was most to blame for Becket’s death?)
- Students should have a sense of a broad chronological sweep of history and where key events fit into it.
- Students should be able to analyse topics in depth and compare themes over time.
- Students should understand some broad concepts – why people are used as scapegoats/persecution, dictatorship and its effects, democracy and the struggle for it, resistance and the fight for rights, government, empire, church and state.
- Students should practise and build key historical skills – analysis, argument, assessing interpretations, explaining change – building and revisiting at KS3 the skills that are fundamental to studying History (and which naturally, therefore, are also key at GCSE).