History has shaped the world in which we live and the people that we are. Students study the history of Britain, Europe and the wider world, making connections and comparisons between different world perspectives. Across their studies, they will develop key historical skills such as the use of evidence, analysing interpretations and making judgements on the significance of events.
The following are examples of the units that the students will study during this Key Stage
Year 7:
How did the Silk Roads shape our world?
What does Mansa Musa’s life reveal about Medieval Mali?
Year 8:
Why do Historians disagree on the British Empire?
Is Olusoga right that slavery enabled Britain to thrive?
Year 9:
Why do we learn about the Holocaust?
How has terrorism developed in the modern world?
GCSE History
Edexcel 10 B1 P4 33
Students study the following units:
• Crime and Punishment c1000 – Present day
• Saxon and Norman England 1060 - 1088
• The USA 1954-75: Conflict at home and abroad
• The Cold War and Superpower Relations 1941 – 1991
A Level History
AQA 7041 1C 2N
Students study three topics. Two are assessed with final exams at the end of the two-year course. The final is assessed via coursework.
The Tudor Dynasty 1485 - 1603
Students will investigate all five of the Tudor monarchs. Students will focus on how each of the monarchs attempted to consolidate their power and the different threats and challenges that they faced. This makes up 40% of their final grade.
Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–1929
Students will cover the end of Tsarist Russia and the Russian Revolution. They will then study the rules of Lenin and Stalin and asses their impact on Russia. This makes up 40% of their final grade.
From September 2024 Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918-1945
Students will study the creation and collapse of democracy in Weimar Germany post WW1. They will then move onto study the rise of the Nazi Party and Hitler in Germany and their creation of the racial state and impact of war. This makes up 40% of their final grade.
Coursework
Students also produce one piece of coursework which makes up 20% of their final grade. It is on the Civil Rights Movement in America over a 100 year period.
History students have gone on several trips which directly link to their programmes of study. In recent years students have visited Vietnam and Germany as well as trips to the Battlefields and to Auschwitz in Poland. At GCSE, we visit Whitechapel annually for a walking tour to support the learning for our Crime and Punishment environment case study on Jack the Ripper.