History
Department Aims:
-To encourage in students a sense of worth through achieving challenging goals.
-To engender an excitement for learning through the study of important issues.
-To develop skills of analysis and judgement through investigation.
-To grow as independent thinkers through questioning and debate.
-To foster a love of History through an appreciation of its relevance in everyone’s life.
-To understand what is History, why History is important and the importance of Historians
-To be better – as Historians, citizens and colleagues working together or individually towards the common goal of understanding our world and heritage.
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Year |
Curriculum Content |
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7 |
Autumn
Spring What was life like in the Industrial Britain?- analysing the development of railways, factories, mines, the workhouses and town life, assessing social and political change. Summer How did war change life for ordinary men and women?- analysing the suffragettes and women gaining the right to vote, understanding the start of WW1
Lessons are taught in a variety of approaches in order to engage all students. Teaching styles like guided discovery, group work, role play and independent learning are all used and adapted to suit the various topics covered and needs of the students in the class. |
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8 |
Autumn
What modern history has impacted your world?- understanding the creation of the NHS and how popular culture and politics have changed over the 1960’s and 1970’s
Lessons are taught in a variety of approaches in order to engage all students. Teaching styles like guided discovery, group work, role play and independent learning are all used and adapted to suit the various topics covered and needs of the students in the class. |
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9 |
Autumn Students develop the exam skills needed for GCSE History with a focus on medicine and surgery in the first half term.
Students then develop source analysis and interpretation skills in the second half term. This is completed through work on America and protests in the 1960s as the content. This also provides a bit of a taster of A Level content in order to encourage high aspirations from an early age.
Students start their official GCSE History course: Understanding how the crime and punishment system has developed and changed since the Anglo-Saxons, through to the modern day. There is also a focused study as part of this course on Whitechapel 1870-1900, looking at how the policing system was developed here. Lessons are taught in a variety of approaches in order to engage all students. Teaching styles like guided discovery, group work, role play and independent learning are all used and adapted to suit the various topics covered and needs of the students in the class. |
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10 |
History GCSE follows the Edexcel History 1-9 course
Anglo-Saxon and Norman England 1060-1088 Analysing what Anglo-Saxon society was like and how this changed with the Norman invasion. Considering the impact William the Conqueror had on England.
Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939 Analysing the reasons for the fall of the Weimar government and how Hitler managed to get the Nazi Party into power. This course is particularly focused on the historical interpretations of what happened.
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11 |
The American West 1835-1895 Understanding how and why Americans settled in the west, and considering the problems faced on the journey including the treatment of Native Americans. Exam Preparation and Revision As GCSE History is linear examined course, every unit is tested with 3 separate exam papers at the end of Year 11. Therefore Year 11 also has a significant focus on revision and the exam skills needed to succeed.
Lessons are taught in a variety of approaches in order to engage all students. Teaching styles like guided discovery, group work, role play and independent learning are all used and adapted to suit the various topics covered and needs of the students in the class. |
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12 |
In Search of the American Dream 1917-1996 Students will learn about the dramatic political, economic and social transformation of the USA in the twentieth century, an era that saw the USA challenged by the consequences of political, economic and social inequalities at home and of its involvement in international conflict.
South Africa, 1948-1994: From apartheid state to ‘rainbow nation’ Students will learn about South Africa during its transition from white minority rule to the free elections of 1994, a long, and at times, dramatic process in which South Africa changed from an apartheid state into a multi-racial democracy. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the creation and consolidation of the apartheid regime by the National Party and the response and methods used by their political opponents in the struggle to overthrow apartheid, as well social, economic and cultural changes that accompanied this process. |
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13 |
Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399-1509 Students will explore the long term causes of the Wars of the Roses by starting at Richard II’s reign. They will then develop an understanding of the conflict and politics of the battles, analysing the challenges of over-mighty subjects and under-mighty monarchs. Students will finish with how Henry VII brought the conflict to an end and set up the Tudor dynasty. With an analysis of themes and source work this unit combines and develops a lot of key historical skills.
Guided coursework The purpose of the coursework is to enable students to develop skills in the analysis and evaluation of interpretations of history in a chosen question, problem or issue as part of an independently researched assignment. The focus is on understanding the nature and purpose of the work of the historian. Students will be required to form a critical view based on relevant reading on the question, problem or issue. They will also be specifically required to analyse, explain and evaluate the interpretations of three historians.
Lessons are taught in a seminar like fashion to prepare students for University level study. Students are required to read widely around the topics and develop their learning beyond the classroom. With three of the four units being examined at the end of Year 13, there is also a strong emphasis on revision and the higher level exam skills required to succeed at A-Level. |