History is about people. Studying History means exploring the lives of people in the past, the worlds they lived in, the ideas that they imagined and the events that they lived through. History embraces everything from the study of Ancient Rome or the Medieval World to the events of World War II. Studying history helps to develop important skills like discerning between fact and opinion, learning to express opinions based on evidence and becoming an independent learner.

History is a subject for those who are naturally curious about people, who enjoy reading, who enjoy sharing ideas with others and who like to express their opinions in presentations and class discussions. These are some comments from students who study History: ‘History is a very interactive subject’. ‘There are always questions to be asked and new things to learn’. ‘There is such a wide variety of topics and there is never a dull moment!’.

The Junior Cycle History course also allows students to undertake independent History research on ‘The Past in My Place’ and ‘A life in Time’. Students thoroughly enjoy working on these projects and often find them some of the most rewarding parts of the Junior Cycle programme. Our students have had great success over the years in the annual Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project.

All students study Junior Cycle History in Ashton and it is one of the most popular subjects in the school.