The History Department is an experienced, stable and successful curriculum area which seeks to only not work towards examination success, but to develop life-long learners and enthusiasts for the subject.
The Department seeks to model and consequently inspire each and every student to engage with the stories and lessons of the past; to take personal responsibility for their own learning, to prioritise self-discipline and behaviour of learning, and to engage in, and enjoy the rewards of, working with purpose.
The nature of the discipline is wide-ranging: students acquire a broad range of historical knowledge and chronological understanding which includes a sense of change and continuity over time; and an appreciation of the development of cultures and society. For example, in KS3 pupils learn how Britain’s culture has developed since the early Roman invasion, helping them to make links between other cultures and our own and allowing them to make comparisons between these changes and those that we experience in the modern era. This in turn helps our pupils to appreciate the positive impact of a rich and diverse culture. Source skills; questioning skills; analytical writing and critical thinking are the tools with which history students unpack the complexity of the past, but equally understand the present and navigate their futures.
KS3
Pupils will study a carefully crafted curriculum which will trace a human narrative from Roman Britain through the Middle Ages and Early Modern Britain to the 21st Century Global Society we live in today. Emphasis is placed on the promotion of certain core skills such as communication, causation, the use of evidence, change and continuity, the ability to identify and appreciate a range of perspectives and the need to discern different interpretations of the past. The teaching approach will use a careful balance of active learning; independent study, and historical enquiry.
KS4
The course follows the School’s History Project, focusing on four option topics:
Crime and Punishment through time, c1000- present
Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991
Early Elizabethan England, 1558-1588
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-1939
The Examination
Pupils are required to sit three examinations:-
Paper 1 worth 30% - 1 hour 15 minutes
Paper 2 worth 40% - 1 hour 45 minutes
Paper 3 worth 30% - 1 hour 20 minutes
All units are assessed in the final year of the 2-year GCSE course.
Paper 1: Thematic study - Crime and Punishment through time, c1000-present
Pupils will study the change and continuity of crime and its punishment throughout History. For example comparisons will be drawn between the years of the ‘Bloody code’ and modern day Britain’s judiciary system. Pupils will also study the effectiveness of the various systems and begin to question and consider the moral implications of the differences in the punishment of crime.
Paper 1: Historic environment – Whitechapel, c1870-c1900: crime and policing
Pupils will study the relationship between the conditions in the East End district of Whitechapel and their impact on crime and policing in Britain at that time.
Paper 2: Period study – Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991
Pupils will study the relations between the USA and the USSR from allies in WWII, through the Cold War until its ending with the fall of the Soviet Union.
Paper 2: British depth study – Early Elizabethan England, 1558-1588
Pupils will study the complexities of Elizabethan society, with a particular focus on challenges to the government, religious divisions and social and economic problems.
Paper 3: Modern Depth Study – Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918 – 1939
Pupils will study the impact of WWI on German society and its long-term consequences for the new Weimar Government. In addition pupils will explore the rise of Hitler and the change in life under the Nazis for the German people.
The History course has a heavy emphasis on literacy and requires pupils to have good comprehension skills and a willingness to read additional sources.
