History
Key Stage 3
Our key stage 3 curriculum is designed to build a wall of knowledge, with each brick (an individual component) both adding to and linking back to something students already know to develop their more comprehensive understanding. Our goal is to provide students with a solid foundation of knowledge that they can use for further study at GCSE and post 16. Alternatively, for students with different interests, this knowledge will help them gain a better understanding of how our country has been shaped over time.
In years 7 - 8 students focus on the chronology of British history, going back just over 1500 years and moving towards the year 2000. We consider, at each stage, how the country was managed, the influence of religion and beliefs, the economy, what society looked like for a typical person and the various events/developments that have shaped and moulded the society we share today.
By studying medical provision, crime and lifestyle, students are able to explore what a ‘typical’ experience would have been but also consider differences depending on where people lived in the country. For instance, coastal areas had very different economies from farmland in the midlands.
Developing their understanding to think critically, evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources, question patterns and challenge any misconceptions, students also explore the development of rights, a political voice and how our fundamental British Values were developed through studies of social policy in the UK and the USA.
Year 9 moves on to focus on Britain's place within the wider world, considering the impact of British culture on the wider world (through the study of the empire), how the world wars developed and modified societies, and the origins of the conflict and the development of international cooperation.
Modern tension is also visited through long-view studies of the history of Russia and the Island of Ireland over a long period, with Britain's role and relationship with these nations remaining at the heart of what we do.
In the Key Stage 3 students will complete an extended unit on the history of the Holocaust, exploring how a modern democratic society was transformed to allow for the largest state-orchestrated mass murder of marginalised groups we are aware of in the world today with a focus here, as with everything we do, on recognising how it is only by understanding the past that we are able to avoid repeating mistakes in the future.
Key Stage 4
Students at Key Stage 4 followed the Edexcel specification, taking the following examined units:
- The American West
- Elizabethan England
- Crime & Punishment (& Whitechapel as the Historic Environment)
- Weimar and Nazi Germany
This course has been chosen to allow students to explore a range of ethical issues as part of their programme, with several considering the importance of human rights & strong moral values through the lens of a given society. To provide breath, we study not only British history (over a 1000-year period) but also focus on two other nation-states, including a broad range of beliefs and ethnicities and consider the relationship between social policy and the lives of the people within each context.
Relatability to the modern day is at the heart of everything we do, with students able to recognise the impact events studied have on the day-to-day lives of individuals in the 21st century & how this continues to impact and shape the global world.
It is hoped that this will allow students to develop, in tandem, skills in evaluative writing and expression, developing informed opinions based on a range of evidence which has been critically reviewed and applied to the given context. This is alongside creating an awareness of how societies and global politics operate within the context of the modern world.
Please find the curriculum overview document in the link below.
