‘You think you’ve found a way to help our Year 7s explain historical consequence?’ My head of department sounded intrigued.
‘View them as shockwaves!’ I exclaimed. ‘Just like Boba Fett’s ship in Star Wars!’
My head of department raised an eyebrow.

It was September 2024, and I had just joined a department embarking on an ambitious plan to re-write its Key Stage 3 curriculum. Our goal was to teach more diverse, rigorous histories, building enquiries around intriguing historical questions grounded in scholarship. This was a dream job, but an immense challenge nonetheless. 

My first task? To write a new enquiry on the Norman Conquest. Classic, right? Well, hopefully not, was our philosophy. I wanted to find a way of doing something new with it. This made my task more challenging, but also more exciting...