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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 studentsʼ 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, focused 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, focusing 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

Tudors

Middle Ages

Beliefs and ideas through time

  

Roman Britain

  1. How do we know about the Romans?
  2. What was everyday life like for people in Roman Britain?

Middle Ages

  1. How do we know about the Anglo-Saxons?
  2. How did the Norman invasion affect England?
  3. What does the evidence tell us about the Crusades?
  4. What was it like to live in the Middle Ages?

Beliefs and ideas through time

  1. How did the religious beliefs and practices of British people change over time?

Tudors & Stuarts

  1. How and why did England’s religion change under the Tudors?

Knowledge Organisers:

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KS3 Assessment:

Home learning is allocated on a weekly basis on Teams.  This is an online quiz designed to help students embed knowledge into long-term memory.

Roman Britain

Middle Ages

Beliefs

Tudors

Assessment milestones:

1. Short knowledge test on the Roman invasions

2. Writing task on utility of sources

Assessment milestones:

1. Online quiz on Saxons and Vikings

2. Mid-Year exam: Extended writing – (a) consequences of the Norman invasion and (b) utility of sources

Assessment milestones:

1. Online quiz on Crusades (interpretations)

2. Oracy presentations on features of Medieval life (research findings)

Assessment milestones:

End of year exam – knowledge test for all topics so far

 

Assessment milestones:

Online quiz about changes under the Tudors (and conceptual understanding)

 

 

 

Year 8 

 
Autumn Spring Summer

The Mughal Empire

Industrial Revolution

 

The British Empire

Democracy in Britain

  

The Mughal Empire

  1. What mattered to the Mughals?

  2. What mattered to the British in India?

The British Empire

  1. What was Britain’s role in the slave trade?

  2. What was the impact of the British Empire?

Industrial Revolution

  1. Why were the changes during Britain's Industrial revolution so important?

  2. Why did life in towns become worse during the Industrial Revolution?

Democracy in Britain

  1. How did the power of the monarch change from Medieval to Stuart times?

  2. How did protests help people get the right to vote in the 19th century?

  3. How did women win the right to vote?

Knowledge Organisers:

You have not allowed cookies and this content may contain cookies.

If you would like to view this content please

KS3 Assessment:

Home learning is allocated on a weekly basis on Teams.  This is an online quiz designed to help students embed knowledge into long-term memory.

Mughals

British Empire

Industrial Revolution

Democracy

Assessment milestones:

1. Extended writing - what mattered to the Mughals?

Assessment milestones:

1. Short knowledge test comparing the British and Mughal Empires

2. Online quiz – Impact of Empire

3. Mid-Year exam: Extended writing ‘Many different groups of people benefitted from the British Empire’.  How far do you agree?

Assessment milestones:

1. Short knowledge test on changes/ inventions in the Industrial Revolution

2. Extended writing - why did life in towns become worse during the Industrial Revolution?

3. End of year exam – knowledge test for all topics so far

Assessment milestones:

1. Extended writing - change in the power of the monarch / narrative

2. Online quiz - protests and voting

 

 

Year 9

Autumn Spring Summer

20th Century Conflict

Britain in the late 20th Century

 

20th Century Conflict:

1. How important was the Russian Revolution for changes in the lives of Russian people?

2. Why did a Second World War start in 1939?

3. Why is it important to remember the Holocaust?

4. Why is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so controversial?

5. How did the Atom Bomb cause a ‘Cold’ war after 1945?

Britain in the late 20th Century:

1. How much freedom and equality did British people achieve in the late 20th century?

2. Why were the 1970s-80s such troubled times?

KS4 Assessment:

Home learning is allocated on a weekly basis on Teams.  This is an online quiz designed to help students embed knowledge into long-term memory.

20th Century Conflict

Britain in the late 20th Century

Assessment milestones:

1. GCSE question style 8 mark importance question –Russian Revolution

2. GCSE question style 12 mark causes question – WW2

3. GCSE question style 4 mark follow up detail in source question – Holocaust

4. Online quiz on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

5. Mid-Year exam - 8 mark importance question – Atom bomb

Assessment milestones:

1. GCSE question style 4 marks following up a detail in a source – Britain freedom and equality

2. End of year exam – knowledge of all work in Y9

3. Online quiz – troubled times

 

 

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

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

Early Elizabethan England (1558-88)

Medicine in Britain, c1250–present

Weimar and Nazi Germany (1918-39)


KS4 Assessment:

All students who follow this course will be given home learning weekly – an online quiz on Teams, designed to embed knowledge into long-term memory.  Every 3 weeks on average and exam question will also be set as homework. 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.
Autumn Spring Summer

Medicine in Britain, c1250–present

Superpower relations and the Cold War (1941-91)

Revision 

KS4 Assessment:

All students who follow this course will be given home learning weekly – an online quiz on Teams, designed to embed knowledge into long-term memory.  Every 3 weeks on average and exam question will also be set as homework.

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.

The 4 topics studied overall for GCSE are:

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%

Examination Board :

Edexcel

Course Specification:

 GCSE History (9-1) 

Qualification obtained:

GCSE History

Additional Information

Useful Websites

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/subjects/history.html

https://learning.parliament.uk/resources/?age-range-suitability=age-11-to-14&theme=history#main

https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home

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

We take students to the World War One Battlefields in France and Belgium in Year 10/11.  Year 7 visit St Albans Roman museum and sites and the Cathedral.  Year 12 visit the site of the Battle of Hastings, Winchester and Westminster Abbey.

 

KS5 Subject information

 

 

Subject Careers Information

 
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