ABOUT THIS CONFERENCE

This NEW conference, is designed in the light of the 2018 examinations. The revamped conference will focus on challenging areas, how to boost grades and how to meet the demands of the questions for examination success in 2019.

This NEW history conference will provide students with a highly valuable and motivational revision day. The conference has been designed to improve varied, interactive sessions throughout the day.

Students will hear from leading Modern World historians and receive high quality advice, guidance and examples from senior examiners in producing examination answers of the highest levels.

The conference is designed for students of all examination boards.

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

  • Experience a unique opportunity to hear from leading experts in Modern World history and senior examiners in the same event
  • Ask questions direct to the historians and examiner
  • Gain top level advice and guidance on how to access the higher grades in examination
  • Enhance your understanding of key areas of Modern Britain, all linked directly to the exam papers
  • Take part in interactive examiner workshops to improve performance in the exams
  • Engage with the latest ideas on the period, leading to strengthened exam answers
  • Take away a full set of conference notes, with examination tips and example answers
CONFERENCE DATE London Friday 08 March 2019
CONFERENCE CODE  7207
IN-SCHOOL You can also book this as an In-School Conference
1

10.25 – 10.35am: Welcome and Introduction: Catherine Priggs

2

10.35 – 11.10am: How Britain changed in the 1950s and 1960s: Dr Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite

  • The latest thinking on how the social and cultural changes of this period affected politics in Britain
  • Evaluating the Welfare State and the period of consensus
  • Examining the clash between traditional and liberal views
  • The concepts of continuity and change in Britain to 1970 and their consequences
3

11.10 – 11.20am: Question and Answer session with the speakers

  • Student opportunity to ask questions to speakers on key points in the previous session
4

11.20 – 11.50am: Workshop on Effective Evaluation of Historical Sources: Dr Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite & Catherine Priggs

  • Explore Excellent example responses to demonstrate the skills that gain the highest marks
  • Examine as a group what differentiates top from lower level responses
  • Work with real student responses to see what examiners are looking for when they mark exams
  • Opportunity to ask speakers about analysing historical sources to the highest level
5

11.50 – 12.10pm: Break – submit your questions on Post War British History to our expert panel

6

12.10 – 12.40pm: Debate: How and why did the Conservatives win the 1983 General Election? Dr Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, Professor Graham Walker, Catherine Priggs

  • Our experts discuss this famous General Election, boosting understanding of the relevant issues
  • Examining the failures of the left – splits and election manifestos
  • Debating the role of the ‘Falklands Factor’ and the power of the media
  • Considering the popularity of Thatcher’s policies
  • Ask questions of our experts on this significant General Election result
7

12.40 – 1.10pm Lunch

8

1.10 – 1.25pm: Ask the Experts

  • The speakers answer the questions submitted by the students, with a prize for the best
9

1.25 – 2.10pm Why was there progress towards peace in Northern Ireland from the mid-1980s?

Professor Graham Walker explores this key area of the specification with the group

  • Assess this topic to the highest levels by gaining the latest historical research
  • Consider the attitudes of the UK and Irish governments
  • Review the behaviour of the paramilitaries
  • Examine how these events reflect changing attitudes and behaviours in Britain at that time
10

2.10 – 2.20pm: Question and Answer session with Graham Walker & Catherine Priggs

  • A unique opportunity for students to ask a leading historian directly on this topic
11

2.20 – 3.10pm: Workshop - The key to excellent essays: Catherine Priggs & Graham Walker

  • Expert advice on how to plan and structure essays to ensure the highest marks
  • Review excellent examples of exam answers to improve student responses
  • Learn how to integrate wider reading into revision to make answers stand out
  • Question a leading historian and examiner about essay writing techniques
12

3.10 - 3.20pm: Final Top Tips and close

  • Extra tips on excellent revision ideas, including using the specification
  • Action plan – what to do after today to get the highest grades

Dr Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite

Historian of twentieth century Britain, who teaches at University College, London. Her PhD examined political and popular ideas about class in England between c. 1969 and 2000. Other historical subjects she has an interest in include gender, sexuality, prostitution and homelessness. She has published Class, Politics and the Decline of Deference in England, 1968-2000 (Oxford University Press, 2018) and is currently working on a study of women’s activism in the miners’ strike of 1984-5 with Dr Natalie Thomlinson (University of Reading).

Catherine Priggs

Catherine is an Assistant Headteacher with a responsibility for Teaching and Learning, CPD, ITT and is the school’s Professional Tutor. She is also a Specialist Leader in Education, and focuses mainly on supporting History departments. Previous to her current role, she was a Head of House, and then Head of History (during her first year as Head of History, A*-C GCSE results rose by 20%, and A*-A by 17%; Year 12 results saw an A-C rate 48% higher than the previous year, and an increase of 4 points on the ALPs indicator). She has also been a lead mentor for the University of Cambridge’s PGCE course, and has coordinated the Bedfordshire School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) History. She has written for Teaching History, and has completed an MEd in History Education at the University of Cambridge. She is an experienced GCSE and A Level examiner for two exam boards.

Professor Graham Walker

Professor of Political History at Queen’s University Belfast. Born and educated in Glasgow, he has held posts at the Universities of Bristol and Sussex and Birkbeck College London. His areas of expertise in broad terms are those of British and Irish history and politics, more specifically the history and politics of twentieth and twenty-first century Scotland and Northern Ireland. He pursues, in relation to Scotland and Northern Ireland, comparative approaches to questions of constitutional reform and devolution, identity issues around Britishness, and ethno-religious divisions and tensions. Among his publications are ‘Intimate Strangers: Political and Cultural Interaction between Scotland and Ulster’ (1995); ‘A History of the Ulster Unionist Party: Protest, Pragmatism, and Pessimism’ (2004); and ‘The Labour Party in Scotland: Religion, the Union, and the Irish Dimension’ (2016). He has also published biographies of key Scottish and Northern Irish political figures, co-edited ‘A Biographical Dictionary of British Prime Ministers’ (1998), and written widely on football, politics and identity.

Students £25+VAT

One free teacher place for every 10 student places
Additional teachers £35+VAT
Individual teachers £80+VAT