Why do we learn history?
A robust, knowledge-rich historical education allows all students access to defining moments in local, British and World History. Through thoughtful historical enquiry and a comprehensive selection of topics, we aim to ensure that all students leave the academy as culturally aware individuals who: understand wider aspects of change in society; appreciate the benefits of the society they live in and can comprehend their place within it. From the Islamic Golden Age to revolutionary France to segregated 20th century America, all students, irrespective of starting point, can construct a framework of historical understanding from which they can critically assess and respond to past, present and future global affairs.
Head of Department
Mr Robert McDonough
Our approach
The History curriculum is built on three core principles:
- All pupils should have access to wide-ranging, comprehensive, and fundamental historical knowledge and concepts delivered primarily through academic reading appropriate to their current reading level;
- All pupils should acquire depth of understanding of essential historical concepts through the teaching of case studies that enable pupils to form opinions on events and interpretations;
- All pupils should be able to communicate their opinions confidently and articulately on events, both past and present, by understanding the strengths and limitations of the information they receive.
Year 7
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
|
How did religion grow and spread in the Middle Ages? Christianity and Saint Foy; the Islamic Golden Age |
How did conquest change Medieval English Society? The Anglo-Saxons; the Vikings; the Norman Conquest; Norman Sicily |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
|
How easy was it for Medieval rulers to gain and maintain power? Chinggis Khan and the Mongols; Alexios I; the Crusades; King John; King Henry III |
How did power start to shift in England between the 14th and 16th centuries? The Black Death; the Peasants' Revolt; the Wars of the Roses; the European Reformation |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
|
How do historians use sources to learn about the past? Inka case study |
How was Elizabethan England connected to the wider world? Political, economic, and religious connections between England and Europe, the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, America and Ireland; first attempts at colonisation in America; the Spanish Armada |
Year 8
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
|
How did England arrive at a Civil War? The Mughal Empire, The Benin Kingdom and Englands decline into Civil War |
How close did England come to a Puritan Revolution? Cromwell and the Interregnum, the Restoration and the Glorious Revolution |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
|
How do we judge Britains role within the Transatalantic Slave Trade? The birth and abolition of the Slave Trade and the experiences of enslaved peoples |
How do we choose to remember the British Empire? The East India Company and Britain's colonisation of India and Massachusetts |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
|
Did the Industrial Revolution benefit all those within British Society? The French Revolution, The growth of England during the Industrial Revolution and the impact on society |
The elite response and reform from above. 1857 Indian Rebellion and england during the 1840's |
Year 9
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
|
Should Germany be blamed for starting World War One? The causes of the First World War |
How did different people experience World War One? The impact of the First World War on soldiers, women on the Home Front, and those in the British Empire |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
|
How does extremism manifest within a country? Hitler's rise to power in Germany; Mussolini in Italy; Moseley in Britain |
How do genocides happen? The Holocaust; the Rwandan Genocide; the Cambodian Genocide |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
|
Was the USA to blame for the Cold War? The causes of the Cold War, 1945-50 |
How far is the USA a force for good in the modern world? Vietnam and Korea; the Civil Rights Movement |
Following their study of the causes of the First World War and Elvin’s annual Remembrance Day ceremony, Year 9 Historians have been studying how different people experienced World War One.
To present their knowledge of what life was like for soldiers in the trenches on the Western Front, pupils chose between writing a newspaper report informing the public of conditions in the trenches or a more personal letter home from a soldier.
Pupils combined their creative writing and artistic skills with their detailed historical knowledge to create some thoughtful and moving pieces of work.
Year 10
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
|
Paper 1: Crime and Punishment, c1000-present day |
Paper 1: Whitechapel case study |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
|
Paper 2: Elizabethan England, 1558-88 |
Paper 2: Elizabethan England, 1558-88 |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
|
Paper 3: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 |
Paper 3: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39 |
Year 10 Historians have been building on their workshop with Warwick University’s History department at the end of Autumn Term by learning how to assess a source’s utility for an enquiry. As part of their Whitechapel case study on the Crime and Punishment paper, students have been analysing sources about policing and the social context of Whitechapel in the late 19th century.
Year 10 are becoming experts at annotating sources to help evaluate their content and provenance and presenting their arguments through extended writing.
Year 11
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 |
|---|---|
|
Paper 2: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 |
Paper 2: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 |
|---|---|
| Revision | Revision |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|
| Revision | Revision |