The History Department at St Gregory’s is delighted to announce they have been awarded the Historical Association History Quality Mark (HQM) Gold Award. The Quality Mark is a prestigious award that recognises the excellence of history provision in a school and assess and values the history provision of the teacher, their department and the school and what is being offered to young people.
The Quality Mark provides a framework for success in which to develop an outstanding provision of history for a school. There is a regulated programme for a school working to achieve the Quality mark to follow, with a clear assessment procedure delivered by independent Historical Association appointed assessors.
The Quality Mark is a rolling programme and schools register at any time. The school is then able to begin preparing as soon as they sign up. The process took a year to complete and required evidence in the form of a portfolio to be submitted to the HA and an assessment visit from the HA which took place in July.
The Historical Association congratulated the St Gregory’s History Department and commented in their detailed report on the ‘The staff at the school who were unfailingly helpful and passionate’ in providing ‘meticulously’ planned lessons and assessments, leading to ‘Teaching and learning of a very high standard’. The report also praised the ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ on offer for St Gregory’s students in History, noting that ‘A conscious effort is made in Key Stage 3 to ensure a balance of perspectives such as political; social, economic, cultural and religious’ allowing the department to play a ‘leading role in developing British and Catholic values’ within the school.
Mrs Katie Sarbatta, Head of History at St Gregory’s is delighted to receive the award, ‘The History team and I are thrilled to have been awarded the Gold Award from the Historical Association, making us one of only eighteen secondary schools in the country to have received the gold accreditation. The team and I have worked hard to make sure the History curriculum on offer to our students is of the highest quality with inclusivity and diversity our highest priorities. I am delighted to see this reflected so clearly in our report and thank the HA and our assessor Dr Tim Lomas for their rigorous assessment of our offering from Key Stage 3 to A-Level. We look forward to continue working with the HA on future projects.
St Gregory’s will be able keep their Quality Mark for three years, then after which will reapply to keep the QM status. A full list of QM schools and further information can be found here on the HA website.
