History

Staff

Ms Oliver – Acting Head of Department 
Mr Ball – KS3 Progress and Achievement 
Ms Brunskill – Assistant Headteacher 
Mr Wynter – Teacher of History and Head of Y9 (SR campus) 
Mr Sidkher – Teacher of History 
Miss Verma – Teacher of History 
 

Department Overview

Belong

  • A representative curriculum in which enables students to see themselves and understand others in our globalised world. 
  • Desire our students to gain cultural capital but also cultural confidence in their own identities and stories. 
  • To develop an understanding of how history informs our sense of identity and place in the world through studying a range of periods, perspectives and peoples. 
  •  To develop a passion for history, a respect and understanding for all people and deeper understanding of the human spirit. 
  • To empower our students as they interact with both their intellect and identities.

Aspire

  • To Introduce students to stories & knowledge that will create aspirations within them to reach their potential & make a difference in their communities.
  • To aspire them unto great career paths through our history graduate network. This network is a team of successful graduates in various industries (medicine, finance consultancy, law, STEM). This is designed to show career progression from History GCSE and A level to degree and beyond.

Succeed

  • To make progress academically by focusing on literacy & transferable analytical skills and critical thinking. 
  • To impart skills & knowledge that will enable students to succeed in wider world & chosen careers.  

Academic rigour & integral to the discipline of history

  • Our curriculum aims to supports the disciplinary knowledge of history. We aim for all our enquiries to be rooted in the use of sources & academic scholarship. 


Self-development

  • To develop a greater sense of self and the critical importance of historical literacy to navigate the present and the future. 
  • To be energised and empowered by our curriculum choices. History should nourish and develop intellect, cultural competence and the critical consciousness of students.

Curriculum Content

Key Stage 3

YEAR 7: What was it like to live in the Medieval & Early Modern world?

  • What is History? 
  • Did the Normans bring a truckload of trouble to England? 
  • What was life like in Medieval England? 
  • What made the Islamic medieval world so brilliant?  
  • Why did Henry VIII break away from Rome? 
  • Why was the world opening up to Elizabeth I and her people? 
  • Why were all three kingdoms at war by 1643? 
  • Weaving the year together: What was it like to live in the Medieval & Early Modern world? 

 YEAR 8: What was the most significant turning point between 1800-1945?

  • Was the Industrial Revolution ‘Liberty’s Dawn’?”  
  • How did enslaved Africans resit slavery?  
  • What did the Civil Rights Movement achieve for African Americans? 
  • What were the experiences of Empire soldiers on the Western Front? 
  • How was morale built on the home front during WW2? 
  • How and why did the Holocaust happen? 
  • Weaving the year together: What was the most significant turning point between 1800-1945? 

YEAR 9: What were people fighting about in the early modern and modern world? 

  • How ‘enlightened’ were the American, French and Haitian revolutions? 
  • Why was there a revolution in Russia in 1917? 
  • What was life like in America between 1919-1941? 
  • Who was to blame for the Cold War? 
  • How successful were attempts to fight for equality in Britain? 

KEY STAGE 4 

YEARS 10-11 GCSE EDEXCEL  

Migrants in Britain, c800–present 

  •  c800–c1500: Migration in medieval England 
  • c1500–c1700: Migration in early modern England 
  •  c1700–c1900: Migration in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain 
  •  c1900–present: Migration in modern Britain 
  • The historic environment- Notting Hill, c1948–c1970: reasons for Caribbean migration, influence of Caribbean cultures on the area, Racism and policing & Black activism. 

Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88 

  • Key topic 1: Queen, government and religion, 1558–69 
  • Key topic 2: Challenges to Elizabeth at home and abroad, 1569–88 
  • Key topic 3: Elizabethan society in the Age of Exploration, 1558–88 

The American West, 1835-1895 

  • The Plains Indians 
  • Migration and early settlement 
  • Conflict and Tension 
  • The development of settlement in the west 
  • Ranching and the cattle industry 
  • Changes in the way of life for the Plains Indians 
  • Conflict with the Plains Indians 
  • The Plains Indians-the destruction of their way of life 

Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-39 

  • Unit 1 - The Weimar Republic 
  • Unit 2- Hitler’s rise to power 
  • Unit 3- Nazi control and Dictatorship 
  • Unit 4- Life in Nazi Germany 

REVISION 

Key Stage 5 – A LEVEL HISTORY OCR 

YEAR 12 

The Early Tudors 

  • England 1485-1547 – Henry VII and Henry VIII 
  • Mid-Tudor Crisis 1547-1558 – Instability of the monarchy, Religious changes and Rebellion and unrest  

The Cold War in Asia 

  • Western policies in Post War Asia 1945-79 
  • The Korean War and its impact 
  • Indochina 1945-67 
  • Wars in Vietnam and Cambodia 1968-93  

 YEAR 13 

Unit 3 – CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE USA 1865-1992 

Thematic Study: Civil Rights in the USA 1865-1992 

  • African Americans 
  •  Trade Unions and Labour Rights 
  • Native American Indians 
  • Women        

Depth Studies 

  • Civil Rights in the ‘Gilded Age’ c.1875-c.1895 
  • The New Deal and civil rights 
  • Malcolm X and Black Power 

UNIT 4 – Coursework 

This is a 3000–4000-word essay on the topic of your choice produced after an independent study/enquiry (from a selection of options provided by your teacher).

 

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

Martin Luther King, Jr.