DO WE DEPEND ON TELEVISION FOR OUR HISTORY?

We have two tv channels dedicated to history; the BBC has a history web site; and just today on TV there are programmes as diverse as Horrible Histories and Chemistry: A Volatile History. But presenter David Dimbleby is arguing that television is having to make up for the fact that not enough time is dedicated in schools to the subject. Only 31% of students in England and Wales take history at GCSE, and we are one of the few countries in Europe where history is not compulsory beyond 14. Should it be? If so, what should be taught?

BERLIN WALL EXHIBITION

The picture is of Loreto history students visiting one of the remaining parts of the Berlin Wall on one of the department's foreign trips. Berlin was central to the Cold War - and is central to the Unit 3 exam. You still have time to catch the exhibition on the Wall at the Imperial War Museum North.

PLANNING AHEAD

Soon the results for the January modules will be out but already students are asking about dates for the summer exams. (Hopefully a sign of early preparation or perhaps just hoping to book a cheap holiday.) Either way you can find the dates of all your exams on the QCA interboard searchable timetable. All you need to know is the board and subject, and it is even easier if you know the code for the exam. Logging in is easy, you don't need a password, and you can create your own personalised timetable by simply checking the papers you want. Of course eLoreto will also do this for you but you might want to get a head start.

AURAL HISTORY

I have a student who every Friday asks if we are going to watch a DVD. Teenagers laugh when you suggest they listen to Radio 4. But this generation may be the one to benefit from radio. With i-pod, MP3, downloading and podcasts listening is a skill more teenagers have than they realise. Tune in to A History of the World in 100 Objects currently being broadcast on Radio 4: practice your listening skills and get a sense of the breadth and wonder of the study of history.

CUTTING BLACK HISTORY

Black History Month has been commemorated in the UK since 1987 when it was created by the then Greater London Council. The current London mayor, Boris Johnson, is cutting the subsidy for Black History Month by more than £120,000 while giving £100,000 to subsidise a 'US Day'. Should tax payers subsidise history events? Is it important we celebrate a significant group within our society whose contribution has frequently been overlooked or ignored? History students at Loreto do an AS in American history, do you support a US Day or should a wealthy country like the US pay for its own celebration?

EXAM TECHNIQUE

To do well in the exams you need to start your revision early as many of you are now discovering. But there are also lots of things you can do in the actual exam to ensure a good mark. This BBC web page has a lot of good tips. And you could always come to the lunchtime sessions on 'Tackling the Exam Paper'!

CONTROVERSY IN HISTORY

Those who do not study history often think it is simply learning facts. But history is a dialogue with the past. It is constantly being re-interpreted, sometimes with controversial results. Film director and history revisionist Oliver Stone is courting controversy once more with his TV history series that attempts to understand Hitler the man. Should we try to get to the ‘real’ person behind the myth or can this lead to becoming an apologist for mass murder?