History
Welcome to the History Department
"Those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
Head of Department:
Mr Kenward
e-mail: mkenward2.310@parkhighstanmore.org.uk
Key Stage 3
The main aims of history at Key Stage 3 are to:
- Inspire and interest young people, allowing them to enjoy history for its own sake, for its importance and for its relevance to their lives
- Be inclusive and representative of students’ individual identities
- Provide the knowledge (and ability to apply that knowledge) required for further study of history and which is expected to be known by adult society
Our curriculum at Key Stage 3 is structured and delivered based on recent research into cognitive science - how children learn and how memory works. This means, a knowledge-rich curriculum with regular opportunities to recap and revisit content, using knowledge retrieval practice to ensure that information is consigned to long-term memory.
There is a broadly chronological structure to the curriculum, focussed mainly on British history and with some studies of wider world history. Most topics are studied as periods in history and a few are more thematic, focussing on a particular theme over a long period of time.
The key themes that are integrated into the curriculum are cultural, social, economic, political and military history; the history of ideas, science and technology, persecution and oppression and beliefs. Through social history, we study the diversity of societies so that the experiences of people based on gender and ethnic origins are seen as an integral part of history.
Year 7
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
---|---|---|
Romans Britain |
Middle Ages |
Beliefs and ideas through time |
Dark Ages |
Tudors & Stuarts |
Roman Britain
- Roman Empire (background)
- Invasion
- Everyday life
- Culture & influences from Ancient Greece
Dark Ages
- Anglo-Saxon migration
- the unifying of England's kingdoms
Middle Ages
- Norman invasion
- castles
- feudalism
- church
- Crusades
- Wars of the Roses
- everyday life
- Black Death
Tudors & Stuarts
- The Reformation
- Religious conflict under the Tudors
- Social history under the Stuarts
Beliefs and ideas through time
- Beliefs throughout time
- Religion in classical civilisations
- Paganism
- Establishment of world religions
- The Enlightenment
- Darwin
Knowledge Organisers:
KS3 Assessment:Home learning is allocated on a weekly basis by each department. It may be an isolated piece of work, a project, research or an alternative task which challenges the students to solidify their knowledge and / or extend it.
In the Summer Term, each student will sit a formal, internal exam which will consist of all elements taught throughout the course. Appropriate preparation in the form of revision should be taken seriously with sufficient planning and organisation to ensure each student fulfils their potential
Year 8
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
---|---|---|
The Mughal Empire |
Industrial Revolution |
London in World War Two |
The British Empire |
Democracy in Britain |
The Mughal Empire
- The British Raj
- Akbar
- Aurangzeb
- East India Company
- Robery Clive
- Bahadur Shah
- The Indian Rebellion
The British Empire
- Start of the empire
- Slavery (world history of, Britain's role)
- US revolution
- Expansion of empire
- Trade and the empire
- Scramble for Africa
Industrial Revolution
- Agricultural revolution
- Industrial revolution (inventions, factories, mining, growth of towns, transport)
Democracy in Britain
- Monarchy
- Magna Carta
- Simon de Montfort and Parliament
- Civil War 1642-9
- Inter-regnum
- French Revolution impact on UK
- Protest/ Chartists/Reform Act/ Suffragettes
London in World War Two
- Evacuation
- Protective measures
- the Blitz
- Women's role
- Internment of foreigners in UK
- rationing
- Home Guard
- entertainment/morale
Knowledge Organisers:
KS3 Assessment:
Home learning is allocated on a weekly basis by each department. It may be an isolated piece of work, a project, research or an alternative task which challenges the students to solidify their knowledge and / or extend it.
In the Summer Term, each student will sit a formal, internal exam which will consist of all elements taught throughout the course. Appropriate preparation in the form of revision should be taken seriously with sufficient planning and organisation to ensure each student fulfils their potential
Year 9
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
---|---|---|
Turning points in the 20th century The Impact of Dictators, Totalitarianism and Genocide on society |
Post-War Britain Britain in the 50s and 60s |
Britain in the 70s/80s/90s |
Turning points in the 20th century
- World War One (causes and consequences)
- The Russian Revolution/Communism and impact on the west
- Wall St Crash
- Causes of WW2
- Impact of WW2/Cold War overview
- the Arab-Israeli conflict and link to the 9/11
The Impact of Dictators, Totalitarianism and Genocide on society
- Communism in the USSR/E Europe under Lenin and Stalin
- the Holocaust
- Mao's China
- Pol Pot and Cambodia
- Post-Cold War Balkans
- Rwandan Genocide
Post-War Britain
- Britain in 1945/ the impact of WW2
- Atlee's government
- Immigration/Windrush
- the NHS
Britain in the 50s and 60s
- 1950s under Macmillan
- Influences on society from the USA (Rock and Roll /teenager culture/consumerism/Civil Rights/race relations)
- Swinging 60s and Liberal laws/changes
Britain in the 70s/80s/90s
- The troubled 70s (unions, strikes)
- Thatcher's Britain (Miner's strike, the economy, Falklands)
- Ireland (The troubles, terrorism and The Good Friday Agreement)
- Overview of New Labour and Austerity Britain in the 2010s
KS4 Assessment:
Home learning is allocated on a weekly basis by each department. It may be an isolated piece of work, a project, research or an alternative task which challenges the students to solidify their knowledge and / or extend it.
In the Summer Term, each student will sit a formal, internal exam which will consist of all elements taught throughout the course. Appropriate preparation in the form of revision should be taken seriously with sufficient planning and organisation to ensure each student fulfils their potential
Key Stage 4
Year 10
Students study the Edexcel/Pearson syllabus, which can be viewed here:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html
The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable students to:
- develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in local, British, and wider world history; and of the wide diversity of human experience
- engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers
- develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context
- develop an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them
- organise and communicate their historical knowledge and understanding in different ways and reach substantiated conclusions.
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
---|---|---|
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18 |
Early Elizabethan England (1558-88) Superpower relations and the Cold War (1941-91) |
Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-39) |
The 4 topics studied are (papers 2 and 3 in Year 10, paper 1 in Year 11):
Paper |
Topic |
Type of study |
Exam time |
marks |
% of grade |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present |
Thematic study |
1 hour 15 minutes |
36 |
30% |
The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18 |
Historic environment |
16 |
|||
2 |
Early Elizabethan England (1558-88) |
British depth study |
1 hour 45 minutes |
32 |
40% |
Superpower relations and the Cold War (1941-91) |
Period study |
32 |
|||
3 |
Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-39) |
Modern Depth Study |
1 hour 20 minutes |
52 |
30% |
KS4 Assessment:
All students who follow this course will be given home learning weekly. Wider reading is always useful either from the websites offered, the text book or as directed by their classroom teacher.
In the Summer Term, each student will sit a formal, internal exam which will consist of all elements taught throughout the course. Appropriate preparation in the form of revision should be taken seriously with sufficient planning and organisation to ensure each student fulfils their potential
Year 11
Students study the Edexcel/Pearson syllabus, which can be viewed here:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html
The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable students to:
- develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in local, British, and wider world history; and of the wide diversity of human experience
- engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers
- develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context
- develop an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them
- organise and communicate their historical knowledge and understanding in different ways and reach substantiated conclusions.
The 4 topics studied are (papers 2 and 3 in Year 10, paper 1 in Year 11):
Paper |
Topic |
Type of study |
Exam time |
marks |
% of grade |
1 |
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present |
Thematic study |
1 hour 15 minutes |
36 |
30% |
The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18 |
Historic environment |
16 |
|||
2 |
Early Elizabethan England (1558-88) |
British depth study |
1 hour 45 minutes |
32 |
40% |
Superpower relations and the Cold War (1941-91) |
Period study |
32 |
|||
3 |
Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-39) |
Modern Depth Study |
1 hour 20 minutes |
52 |
30% |
KS4 Assessment:
All students who follow this course will be given home learning weekly. Wider reading is always useful either from the websites offered, the text book or as directed by their classroom teacher.
In the Summer Term, each student will sit a formal, internal exam which will consist of all elements taught throughout the course. Appropriate preparation in the form of revision should be taken seriously with sufficient planning and organisation to ensure each student fulfils their potential.
Examination Board :
Course Specification:
OCR GCSE History A(9-1) - J410
Qualification obtained:
GCSE History
Additional Information
Useful Websites
Useful Reading Material
Hodder GCSE History for Edexcel: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39, by John Wright, Steve Waugh
Hodder GCSE History for Edexcel: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91, by John Wright, Steve Waugh
Hodder GCSE History for Edexcel: Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88, by Barbara Mervyn
Hodder GCSE History for Edexcel: Medicine Through Time, c1250–Present, by Ian Dawson
Enrichment
Trips are currently on hold due to COVID restrictions. We have taken students to the Battlefields, Berlin and on trips in and around London to further supplement their studies.
Virtual Tours
Anne Frank House Virtual Tour
Explore the annex where Anne Frank hid for more than two years during World War II.
https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/secret-annex/
Buckingham Palace Virtual Tour
Take a look round Buckingham Palace.
https://www.royal.uk/virtual-tours-buckingham-palace
Natural History Museum
Go on a Fossil Hunting Adventure.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/360-fossil-hunting-adventure.html
British Museum
Explore every artefact on display at the British Museum.
https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
Explore every exhibit the museum has to offer.