History

History

Key Stage 3

Year 7

• What is History?
• The Romans
• The Norman Conquest
• Power of the Medieval Church
• The Black Death
• The Peasants Revolt
• Robin Hood

Year 8

• The Tudors
• The Stuarts
• The Industrial Revolution 1745-1901
• Crime and Punishment
• The Slave Trade and the Abolition of Slavery.
• Race Relations in America 1955-1968:

Year 9

• World War I 1914-1919:
• Rise of Dictators, Nazi Persecution of the Jews, Steps to WWII.
• World War II 1939-1945:
• Key Stage 4
• At Key Stage 4 pupils study the Edexcel 9-1 GCSE History specification.

Year 10 & Year 11

Paper 1:

Medicine in Britain, c1250–present with The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches (Paper 1, 30% of GCSE)

Continuity and change in explanations of the cause of disease and illness. The influence in Britain of Pasteur’s Germ Theory and Koch’s work on microbes.
The extent of change in care and treatment: improvements in hospital care and the influence of Nightingale. The impact of anaesthetics and antiseptics on surgery.
New approaches to prevention: the development and use of vaccinations and the Public Health Act 1875.
Key individual: Jenner and the development of vaccination.
Fighting Cholera in London, 1854; attempts to prevent its spread; the significance of Snow and the Broad Street pump.
Advances in understanding the causes of illness and disease: the influence of genetic and lifestyle factors on health.
Improvements in diagnosis: the impact of the availability of blood tests, scans and monitors.
The extent of change in care and treatment. The impact of the NHS and science and technology: improved access to care; advances in medicines, including magic bullets and antibiotics; high-tech medical and surgical treatment in hospitals.
New approaches to prevention: mass vaccinations and government lifestyle campaigns.
Key individuals: Fleming, Florey and Chain’s development of penicillin.
The fight against lung cancer in the twenty-first century: the use of science and technology in diagnosis and treatment; government action.
The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches.
The context of the British sector of Western Front and the theatre of war in Flanders and northern France: the Ypres salient, the Somme, Arras and Cambrai. The trench system - its construction and organisation, including frontline and support trenches. The use of mines at Hill 60 near Ypres and the expansion of tunnels, caves and quarries at Arras. Significance for medical treatment of the nature of the terrain and problems of the transport and communications infrastructure.
Conditions requiring medical treatment on the Western Front, including the problems of ill health arising from the trench environment. The nature of wounds from rifles and explosives. The problem of shrapnel, wound infection and increased numbers of head injuries. The effects of gas attacks.
The work of the RAMC and FANY. The system of transport: stretcher bearers, horse and motor ambulances. The stages of treatment areas: aid post and field ambulance, dressing station, casualty clearing station, base hospital. The underground hospital at Arras.
The significance of the Western Front for experiments in surgery and medicine: new techniques in the treatment of wounds and infection, the Thomas splint, the use of mobile x-ray units, the creation of a blood bank for the Battle of Cambrai.
The historical context of medicine in the early twentieth century: the understanding of infection and moves towards aseptic surgery; the development of x-rays; blood transfusions and developments in the storage of blood.

Paper 2:

The American West, c1835–c1895 & Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88 (40% of GCSE)

The American West, c1835–c1895
Social and tribal structures, ways of life and means of survival on the Plains.
Beliefs about land and nature and attitudes to war and property.
US government policy: support for US westward expansion and the significance of the Permanent Indian Frontier. The Indian Appropriations Act 1851.
The factors encouraging migration, including economic conditions, the Oregon Trail from 1836, the concept of Manifest Destiny, and the Gold Rush of 1849.
The process and problems of migration, including the experiences of the Donner Party and the Mormon migration, 1846–47. The development and problems of white settlement farming.
Reasons for tension between settlers and Plains Indians. The significance of the Fort Laramie Treaty 1851.
The problems of lawlessness in early towns and settlements. Attempts by government and local communities to tackle lawlessness.
The significance of the Civil War and post war reconstruction, including the impact of the Homestead Act 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act 1862, and the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad, 1869.
Attempts at solutions to problems faced by homesteaders: the use of new methods and new technology; the impact of the Timber Culture Act 1873 and of the spread of the railroad network.
Continued problems of law and order in settlements, and attempted solutions, including the roles of law officers and increases in federal government influence.
The cattle industry and factors in its growth, including the roles of Iliff, McCoy and Goodnight, the significance of Abilene and of the increasing use of the railroad network.
The impact of changes in ranching on the work of the cowboy.
Rivalry between ranchers and homesteaders.
The impact of railroads, the cattle industry and gold prospecting on the Plains Indians.
The impact of US government policy towards the Plains Indians, including the continued use of reservations. President Grant’s ‘Peace Policy’, 1868.
Conflict with the Plains Indians: Little Crow’s War (1862) and the Sand Creek Massacre (1864), the significance of Red Cloud’s War (1866–68) and the Fort Laramie Treaty (1868). Changes in farming: the impact of new technology and new farming methods.
Changes in the cattle industry, including the impact of the winter of 1886–87. The significance of changes in the nature of ranching: the end of the open range.
Continued growth of settlement: the Exoduster movement and Kansas (1879), the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893.
Extent of solutions to problems of law and order: sheriffs and marshals. The significance of Billy the Kid, OK Corral (1881), Wyatt Earp.
The range wars, including the Johnson County War of 1892.
Conflict with the Plains Indians: the Battle of the Little Big Horn, 1876 and its impact; the Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890
The hunting and extermination of the buffalo.
The Plains Indians’ life on the reservations.
The significance of changing government attitudes to the Plains Indians, including the Dawes Act 1887 and the closure of the Indian Frontier.

Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588
The Virgin Queen: the problem of her legitimacy, gender, marriage. Her character and strengths.
Challenges at home and from abroad: the French threat, financial weaknesses.
Religious divisions in England in 1558. Elizabeth’s religious settlement (1559): its features and impact.
The Church of England: its role in society.
The nature and extent of the Puritan challenge.
The nature and extent of the Catholic challenge, including the role of the nobility, Papacy and foreign powers.
Mary, Queen of Scots: her claim to the English throne, her arrival in England in 1568.
Relations between Elizabeth and Mary, 1568–69.
The reasons for, and significance of, the Revolt of the Northern Earls, 1569–70.
The features and significance of the Ridolfi, Throckmorton and Babington plots. Walsingham and the use of spies.
The reasons for, and significance of, Mary Queen of Scots’ execution in 1587.
Political and religious rivalry. Commercial rivalry. The New World, privateering and the significance of the activities of Drake.
English direct involvement in the Netherlands, 1585–88. The role of Robert Dudley.
Drake and the raid on Cadiz: ‘Singeing the King of Spain’s beard’.
Spanish invasion plans. Reasons why Philip used the Spanish Armada. The reasons for, and consequences of, the English victory.
Education in the home, schools and universities.
Sport, pastimes and the theatre.
The reasons for the increase in poverty and vagabondage during these years.
The changing attitudes and policies towards the poor.
Factors prompting exploration, including the impact of new technology on ships and sailing and the drive to expand trade.
The reasons for, and significance of, Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe.
The significance of Raleigh and the attempted colonisation of Virginia.
Reasons for the failure of Virginia.

Paper 3:

Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39 (30% of GCSE)
The legacy of the First World War. The abdication of the Kaiser, the armistice and revolution, 1918–19.
The setting up of the Weimar Republic. The strengths and weaknesses of the new Constitution.
Reasons for the early unpopularity of the Republic, including the ‘stab in the back’ theory and the key terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
Challenges to the Republic from Left and Right: Spartacists, Freikorps, the Kapp Putsch.
The challenges of 1923: hyperinflation; the reasons for, and effects of, the French occupation of the Ruhr.
Reasons for economic recovery, including the work of Stresemann, the Rentenmark, the Dawes and Young Plans and American loans and investment.
The impact on domestic policies of Stresemann’s achievements abroad: the Locarno Pact, joining the League of Nations and the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
Changes in the standard of living, including wages, housing, unemployment insurance.
Changes in the position of women in work, politics and leisure.
Hitler’s early career: joining the German Workers’ Party and setting up the Nazi Party, 1919–20.
The early growth and features of the Party. The Twenty-Five Point Programme. The role of the SA.
The reasons for, events and consequences of the Munich Putsch. Reasons for limited support for the Nazi Party, 1924–28. Party reorganisation and Mein Kampf. The Bamberg Conference of 1926. 3 The growth in support for the Nazis, 1929–32
The growth of unemployment – its causes and impact. The failure of successive Weimar governments to deal with unemployment from 1929 to January 1933. The growth of support for the Communist Party.
Reasons for the growth in support for the Nazi Party, including the appeal of Hitler and the Nazis, the effects of propaganda and the work of the SA.
Political developments in 1932. The roles of Hindenburg, Brüning, von Papen and von Schleicher.
The part played by Hindenburg and von Papen in Hitler becoming Chancellor in 1933.
Cultural changes: developments in architecture, art and the cinema.
The Reichstag Fire. The Enabling Act and the banning of other parties and trade unions.
The threat from Röhm and the SA, the Night of the Long Knives and the death of von Hindenburg. Hitler becomes Führer, the army and oath of allegiance.
The role of the Gestapo, the SS, the SD and concentration camps.
Nazi control of the legal system, judges and law courts.
Nazi policies towards the Catholic and Protestant Churches, including the Reich Church and the Concordat.
Controlling and influencing attitudes: Goebbels and the Ministry of Propaganda: censorship, Nazi use of media, rallies and sport, including the Berlin Olympics of 1936.
Nazi control of culture and the arts, including art, architecture, literature and film.
The extent of support for the Nazi regime. Opposition from the Churches, including the role of Pastor Niemöller.
Opposition from the young, including the Swing Youth and the Edelweiss Pirates.
Nazi views on women and the family.
Nazi policies towards women, including marriage and family, employment and appearance
Nazi aims and policies towards the young. The Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens.
Nazi control of the young through education, including the curriculum and teachers
Nazi policies to reduce unemployment, including labour service, autobahns, rearmament and invisible unemployment.
Changes in the standard of living, especially of German workers.
The Labour Front, Strength Through Joy, Beauty of Labour.
Nazi racial beliefs and policies and the treatment of minorities: Slavs, ‘gypsies’, homosexuals and those with disabilities.
The persecution of the Jews, including the boycott of Jewish shops and businesses (1933), the Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning in History

History is taught as an individual subject at both KS3 and KS4. Throughout Years 7-9 every student will gain a knowledge and understanding of past societies including that of Britain, and other significant civilisations and countries from the past. Students will be expected to develop critical thinking and evidential skills, develop arguments which show perspective and judgement. In addition to using paper based resources, the use of ICT will enable students to discover more about the past. Students will talk about History, read about History, write about History and, hopefully, become more curious about our past. Engaging, inclusive approaches are used in all lessons to enable students to enjoy History. Teachers are passionate about History and this enthusiasm captures the imagination and interest of our students.