Promoting Community Cohension
Having survived an OFSTED inspection last week which included an interview with an inspector regarding Community Cohesion I am looking to improve our students' understanding of the diversity within our country. I teach in a large East London comprehensive with a very diverse ethnic make-up of students, many of whom have been no further than central London and do not know that there is anything other then city life in existence. I am looking to set up links with a school that would differ greatly from ours to try and increase our students' outlook. The aim is to eventually organise either video conferencing or a visit to another school(s) to try and open up the students' eyes and to give htem the chance to communicate with different types of students.

Farnce 1814-70
I am teaching this year at AS level the OCR module on France and am looking for copies of the Access series, 'Monarchy, Republic and Empire' by Keith Randell which is now out of print. Can anyone help? Has anyone got unused copies lurking at the back of their stock cupboard? would be most grateful to hear from you. Thanks.

Teaching "The Growth of Democracy in Britain" to A level
Can anyone help? I am teaching "The Growth of Democracy in Britain 1830-1931" as an A2 unit. I am hoping to lay my hands on 2 Historical Association pamphlets which I am told are out of print. They are "The Reformed Electoral System in Great Britain 1832-1914" by H Hanham (HA 1969) and "The Evolution of the British Electoral System 1832-1987" by M Pugh (HA 1988). I will buy or borrow. Thanks.

GCSE History results
After yet another disappointing set of results for AQA GCSE Modern World History I am wondering what more we can do, and whether anyone else has the same experience? Some excellent and hardworking students have got at least a grade lower than they should have, and overall I would estimate our results are half a grade down. This year we have tried to revise in a really structured way - to no avail, the results are as usual. What experience do others have of the different boards? We also had a small group for the OCR pilot GCSE who had excellent results, but feel this is not suitable for all our cohort (120+ students, the largest option group in the school, so the kids like the subject!) We need to have confidence in whatever board we start teaching in September 2009, but also to do our best by the two remaining AQA cohorts. Comments/advice please!

Calderdale history on the radio
Anyone - school pupil or not - who wishes to contribute features on local history to Phoenix FM, the community radio station for Calderdale in Yorkshire - will be warmly welcomed and given all the technical help necessary. Please contact Sara Hinchliffe on 01422 365923 or e-mail sara@phoenixfm.co.uk if you are interested.

A Levels and International Baccalaureate
I'm a student at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Kent. Although history is part of the curriculum, the syllabus is completely different. Instead of the usual period of history that A Levels encompass - Tudors etc - the course that I study concentrates solely on the modern era, namely WW1 to the Cold War. I wondered what teachers, students and others thought about this - should the syllabus be restricted in this way, or is it better to concentrate fully on a short period of time and really comprehend it fully?

Teaching Stuart History in Secondary Schools
I am writing a dissertation looking at how museums can provide education programmes reaching the new national curriculum objectives for secondary schools, by focussing on Stuart history. I would really appreciate some input from teachers as to the main barriers to teaching Stuart history at key stage 3. This would greatly help me gain an understanding of what museums can do to provide education facilities in this subject area. Barriers may be in terms of location, organisation, teachers' personal subject knowledge, or school policy for example. I will be very grateful for any advice or opinions on the matter. Thank You.

Web Debates
We're currently planning a series of web debates to begin in September 2008. Are there any areas that members would find particularly useful?