History Department

Ethos

The courses are very popular and successful. The elements are chosen to stimulate students and enable them to succeed. The students are encouraged to enquire into an important historical question and show their findings through a written essay or a presentation to class.

The key questions are:

• What caused something to happen?
• What changed over a period of time?
• What evidence is there to support our findings?

Courses

KS3

Year 7
How have the lives of ordinary people changed?

• How did medieval people cope with the Black Death?
• Was England turned upside down in the 17 th century? – science and superstition
• Changing industry and changing lives
• How did the lives of Black people in America change?
• How did the lives of Black people in America change?
• How has 20 th century medicine changed people’s lives?

Year 8
How do rulers keep control?

• How did medieval monarchs keep control?
• How successfully did Elizabeth I tackle the problems of her reign?
• What happens when rulers lose control? – king and parliament
• 20 th century dictators
• How did European Empires keep control? / Consequence of Empire
• 20 th century warfare

Key Stage Four  

GCSE

 Year 9

• Victorian London and the mystery of Jack the Ripper
• Life in 20 th Century USA – Prohibition
• Life in the 20 th Century USA – 1950’s and Elvis Presley – Coursework 1
• Empire – the road to Indian Independence
• Weimar Germany

Year 10

• Weimar Germany
• Nazi Germany
• The Holocaust – Coursework 2
• Medicine Through Time – the Ancients

 Year 11

• Medicine Through Time – the Middle Ages
• Medicine Through Time – the Renaissance
• Medicine Through Time – the Industrial Revolution
• Medicine Through Time – the 20 th Century
• Exam revision

Key Stage Five

Year 12  

• The USA in the 20 th Century – Civil Rights and the Vietnam and Korean conflicts
• Changes in British Society since 1945 – impact of the media

Year 13

• Containing Communism – the USA in Korea and Vietnam
• Representation & Democracy – the development of 19 th century British politics
• Chartism – popular political protest in 19 th century Britain

Events and services

• Visits to places of historical interest e.g First World War battlefields; Public Record Office and Imperial War Museum
• History clubs
• Revision clubs and coursework clinics