History
Course Description
A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. We aim to equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
Students will:
- know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
- know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
- gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’.
- understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
- understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
- gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
Our expectations
Pupils should extend and deepen their chronologically-secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, so that it provides a well-informed context for wider learning. Pupils should identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends within periods and over long arcs of time. They should use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways. They should pursue historically valid enquiries including some they have framed themselves, and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response. They should understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
2019-20 Curriculum Overview
Term | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 |
Autumn 1 | What is History? | The Reformation | WWI |
Autumn 2 | Norman Conquest | Gunpowder Plot | WWII |
Spring 1 | Medieval Life and Crusades | Charles’ Execution | The Holocaust |
Spring 2 | Medieval Monarchs | Changing Britain | British Experiences |
Summer 1 | Black Death and its impact | Jack the Ripper | British Experiences |
Summer 2 | Local History Project | British Empire | Immigration |
Course Overview
Examination Group: EDEXCEL
Examination Value: 100%
Examination Structure: Three Exam Papers
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html
Assessment components
Students will study four units covering different time periods and countries:
Paper 1: Thematic Study + Historic Environment: Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and the British sector
of the Western Front 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches
Paper 2: Period Study 50 Years: Superpower relations in the Cold War
British Depth: Early Elizabethan England
Paper 3: Modern Depth: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39
Why you should consider this subject for GCSE
History students should enjoy learning about the past and be willing to reflect on how past events, societies and individuals have shaped the world we live in today. History students will learn to ask questions. As part of the course pupils will engage with different historical interpretations and analyse primary source material. The skills developed will apply to a range of careers, as explained below.
At the end of Year 10, students have the opportunity to visit Ypres in Belgium, the context to where the fighting in World War I took place.
Importantly, students should have an excellent level of literacy in order to access the exam and be able to communicate their ideas. For this reason, future employers recognise the academic value of the subject.
Future Careers
History is a subject valued by employers because it encourages skills which are needed in many occupations. Students can present arguments, understand human behaviour in a range of circumstances, and interpret written, visual and numerical information.
The Civil Service, Financial Services, Journalism, Law, Management and Teaching are just a few careers for which History can be good preparation.
Employers who see that you have a qualification in history know that:
- you can understand how people operate, what motivates them what they think and feel
- you are able to gather and read different kinds of information and can check it for bias or propaganda
- you are able to communicate clearly and have learned to express yourself verbally and on paper
Weekly Clubs
KS3 - Help with homework on Thursday lunchtime
KS4 - Study Group on Wednesday after school; Intervention on Friday lunchtime
KS4
- Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History, Pearson - https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html
- BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/examspecs/zw4bv4j
Revision World - https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/history-gcse-level