Curriculum Intent
As a history department, we aim to provide students with a broad range of topics with embedded skills of research, analysis and source interpretation, which sets students up well for any future career.
In Year 9, the focus is the 20th Century to fulfil the KS3 national curriculum. Students study both World Wars and the growth of dictatorships in both Russia and Germany. The modern focus sees students develop their understanding of political concepts and ideologies such as Democracy, Dictatorship, Fascism and Communism, that will be further developed throughout Key Stages 4 and 5. By the end of year 9, they should have a growing understanding of how events in the early 20th century have affected not only the UK, but Europe and the wider world in which they live, as well as other transferable skills of research, analysing sources, evaluation and creating an argument supported by evidence. source inference and longer answer question writing.
At Key Stage 4 the aim is provide a breadth of topics to enhance students' understanding of the world in which they live and how British society has evolved into it's current state. Students initially continue the 20th century theme by studying Cold War relations before going on to see how this country has been shaped by the reign of Elizabeth I, as well as a thematic study of Health and Medicine to see how modern medicine has improved to today. The paper 2 topics (Elizabeth and Health), particularly help students see British developments in order to understand British values, focussing on not only social but political and economic developments through key turning points in British history. To further develop students' appreciation of the past and the key skill of empathy the history team also offers trips to Germany/ and Poland to provide not only an enriching cultural experience but a deeper understanding of some key topics and events in European history as well as enhancing students understanding of GCSE topics.
A Level students build upon prior knowledge and skills at GCSE by adding extra layers to previous topics or looking at events from a different perspective. The focus of the Tudor study is to enhance students' understanding of British history and how we have developed key concepts we see today in that time. This unit also provides the students with an opportunity to study the work of historians and understand how each historian develop their opinions. The International Relations unit again exposes students to many political concepts and ideas, in order to be able to see how Europe has been shaped and changed by wars in the 20th century. It allows them not only to develop their source analysis skills but also to really appreciate how the Europe of today was shaped by the key event of the 19th and 20th centuries. Whilst the NEA on African-American Civil rights allows the students not only to develop their research skills but to further develop in detail their work on historical interpretations and evaluation of sources. The content also provides an important insight into one of the main talking points in today's society as our student become world ready.
