History

The History curriculum provides a rich and broad investigation into some of the most significant aspects of British and global History, paying particular attention to the developments that have shaped the communities in which our students live. We aim to incorporate the latest historical ideas into our teaching, and present them to students so that they can form, and articulate, their own judgements. We emphasise the importance of literacy and vocabulary and support students in making progress in these key areas.

In Key Stage 3, History is integrated into the Excellence Curriculum for Year 7 and then is taught as a separate subject to Years 8 and 9.

Year 8  |  Year 9  |  Key Stage 4  |  Key Stage 5

Year 8

In Year 8 we investigate:

  • What did people know about the world in 1453?
  • What can the Wars of the Roses tell us about kingship in late Medieval England?
  • What do the Ottomans reveal about ‘empire’?
  • How transformative was the Reformation?
  • How did ‘government’ change in the seventeenth century?
  • Why is the Caribbean vital to our understanding of British History?
  • How significant was the abolition of slavery?
  • How far did the French Revolution create the modern world?
  • How far did the Industrial Revolution shape the modern world?
  • What does the Great Exhibition reveal about how the Victorians saw themselves?
  • How and why did women in Britain fight for the right to vote?

Year 9

In Year 9 we investigate:

  • Why did the world go to war in 1914?
  • How similar were experiences of the First World War?
  • How significant was the Russian Revolution for the modern era?
  • Why did the world go to war in 1939?
  • Why did the Holocaust happen?
  • What was life like in Croydon during the Blitz?
  • How similar are experiences of decolonisation across the British Empire?
  • How similar were experiences of migration to Britain?
  • How significant was the Civil Rights movement in the USA for the modern era?
  • Why was a small guerrilla army able to undermine the military might of the USA? (Vietnam)?

Key Stage 4

In Key Stage 4, History contributes towards the English Baccalaureate and we follow the Pearson Edexcel History GCSE. We study the following papers:

  • Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88
  • Medicine in Britain, c1250-present
  • The British sector of the Western Front, 1914-18: injuries, treatment and the trenches
  • Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39
  • Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91

Key Stage 5

In Key Stage 5 we follow the Pearson Edexcel History A Level and study the following papers:

  • Russia, 1917-91: from Lenin to Yeltsin
  • Mao’s China, 1949-76
  • Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform in Britain, 1780-1928
  • Coursework on the Tudors