Sharples School head of history is a real inspiration to pupils

Alice Solomons of Sharples School is the North West winner of the Inspiring History Teaching Awards.

The head of history has worked as a teacher for 10 years, with all of that time having been spent at Sharples. She became director of history role in her very first year of teaching, and has been there since.

Now, she has been recognised for her work, “raising engagement” in history and transforming its uptake at GCSE level.

Alice Solomons (Image: Alice Solomons)

Speaking to The Bolton News, Ms Solomons said: “It was just a shock, really, and a massive honour to be recognised for all of the work at the department since I started 10 years ago.

“It is all I’ve ever known, because the head of department left in December and I had started in the September, the job came up in May and I got it.

“The status of history at the school has changed massively, because of the work that has been put in at Key Stage Three – the work that the department as a whole has done, not just me.

“Students really enjoy the subject. A lot of people think history is boring, what’s the relevance. But we have shown why it is relevant and now it is popular at GCSE, it validates your work.”

History department winning an award (Image: Alice Solomons)

She thanked Ann Webster, the former headteacher who “trusted her to do it at such a young age”, current headteacher Caroline Molyneux, her family, in particular her mum, for being the “reason she is so enthusiastic about history” and her own history teacher, Rebecca Grantham, at Rivington and Blackrod High School.

She was nominated for the award by history teacher Hollie Elias, with Ms Solomons adding: “She said she’d nominated me because of how much support I gave her as a new employee and the department as a whole, even though I wasn’t working at the time.”

She will also be attending a swanky ceremony at the Tower of London in June for the awards, saying to be recognised at a place which features in so many of her lessons is “surreal”.

Alice at the colosseum (Image: Alice Solomons)

Award organisers said in a statement: “Through her dedication to storytelling, debate and immersive activities – such as virtual reality experiences of First World War trenches – the judges praised Alice’s approach which has raised the engagement of history within Sharples School.

“Under her leadership, the subject has become one of the school’s most popular GCSE subjects with uptake rising 622 per cent since 2019.

“Alongside her commitment to lesser-known, diverse histories, Alice has also received glowing feedback from trainees, saying they ‘could not have asked for a better teacher to learn from’.”