History

Staffing

• Mr I Davies (Head of History)
• Mr J Howard (Second in History)
• Miss T Kelly (Acting Head of Year 8)
• Miss G Gunn (Head of General Studies)
• Mr J Loader

Key Stage 3:

Year 7 - Roman Empire (500BC - 500AD) including Julius Caesar and the Roman Republic, Gladiators and the Coliseum, Roman Britain and the fall of the Roman Empire Medieval Britain (1000AD - 1500) including the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest, Castles and the Black Death. Islamic History (500AD 1500) including the life of Muhammad, Islamic civilisation in the middle ages and the Crusades.

Year 8 - Crown, Religion & Discovery (1450 1605) including Henry VIII and the Reformation, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth, the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot, Columbus and voyages of discovery. Crown, Parliament & Empire (1605 1789) including the English Civil War, settlement in North America and the American War of Independence, the Atlantic Slave Trade and the French Revolution.

Year 9 - Industrial Revolution (1750 1900) including the role of entrepreneurs, changing technology, transport, life in the new industrial towns and demands for the vote. 20th Century World (1900 2000) including the First and Second World Wars, The Russian Revolution and communism, changing technology over the 20th century and globalisation.

In each year there are 2 assessment exams as well as other forms of informal and continuous assessment.

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Key Stage 4:

At GCSE we study the AQA Modern World History Specification B. The main topics studied are:-

TERM 1: Option Y: Britain In The First World War ( 1914-1918)

• Role of Britain and the Empire on the Western Front
• Role of Britain in the War at Sea
• The Home Front

TERM 1: The Treaty Of Versailles ( 1919)

• Paris Peace Conference
• Main terms of the Treaty

TERMS 1 & 2: Germany between the wars (1918-39):

• Weakness of the Weimar Republic.
• Hyper-inflation, recovery and world depression.
• Adolf Hitler and the early years of the Nazi Party.
• Hitler's rise to power and dictatorship.
• Nazi Germany including Persecution of the Jews.

TRMS 2 & 3: The USA between the wars (1918-41):

• Isolation, the consumer boom and the Roaring Twenties.
• The Ku Klux Klan, Prohibition and Gangsters.
• The Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression.
• Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.

TERM 3: Causes of The Second World War (1919-1939)

• Failure of the League Of Nations to keep peace
• Hitlers exploitation of Treaty of Versailles
• Failure of appeasement policy

COURSEWORK Britain and The Second World War

• American failure to defeat the Vietcong
• Essay Question
• Advanced Level
• The first year of study, which can be taken as a separate AS Level qualification, will consist of:

Module 1:

• Germany and Russia before the First World War.
• Bismarck, Kaiser William II, and the rise of Germany. Tsar Nicholas II and his government of Russia.

Module 2:

Britain 1895-1918.

The end of the Victorian Age, Liberal social reforms, the impact of the First World War.

Module 3:

Course Essays:

• 1. The Balkans, 1870-1914
• 2. 1.New Liberalism in Britain 1906-1915.

The second year of study, which would turn the AS into a full A Level, will consist of:

Module 5:

• Britain 1918-1951.
• Politics, society, the economy and British foreign policy, including the rise of the Labour Party, mass unemployment, appeasement of fascism and the welfare state.

Module 6:

Depth Study:

Great Britain, public opinion and Appeasement in the 1930s.

Each module is assessed separately with a 1 hour 30 minute written paper taken in June of the lower sixth(modules 1and 2) or upper sixth(modules 4,5 and 6). There is no coursework, but the course essays (module 3) will be researched and prepared independently before being written in examination conditions.

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14-19 Careers/ Educational Opportunities

History is an excellent foundation subject which develops skills of understanding, analysis, debate, using evidence to reach conclusions, interpretation, investigation, organising information and presenting a coherent and sustained case. These are essential skills for any career in management, law, journalism and administration. Apart from study of the past, history A Level includes an understanding of politics, economics, social and cultural studies, media studies and psychology. These are also important skills for citizens in a complex and changing society. Knowledge and understanding of history is essential to an understanding of the changing world today.

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