History

History

YEAR 7

YEAR 8

YEAR 9

YEAR 10

YEAR 11

YEAR 7

TERM 1

Unit(s) Title: How do historians know about the past? AND Were the Vikings really vile?

These units are designed to introduce students to the key skills that historians use to study the past, including key chronological terminology and the use of source material to find out about the past. Students look at sources about the Roman and Viking invasions of Britain and how this affected the British people.

 

Topics Include:

 

• Chronological terms, eg. BC and AD, decades, centuries and millenia
• Roman Britain
• Looking at sources about whether the Romans were good or bad for Britain
• The Viking invasion of Britain
• Using sources to judge whether the Vikings were good or bad for Britain

TERM 2

Unit(s) Title: Why was 1066 a significant year in English history? AND What were William’s problems after 1066?

These units are designed to develop students’ skills in linking different factors together to create an account of the past that considers the impact of different events and situations. Students also learn to explain the consequences of key events, in this case the consequences of William’s victory at Hastings, and look at some key changes that occurred in England as a result of the Norman Conquest.

 

Topics Include:

 

• The key battles for the throne in 1066 (The Battle of Fulford, the Battle of Stamford Bridge and the Battle of Hastings)
• Using the Bayeux Tapestry to make judgements about how Harold was killed at Hastings
• Looking at the importance of Domesday Book
• Exploring the impact of castles on the English landscape

 

TERM 3

Unit(s) Title: What does the murder of Thomas Becket tell us about power in the Middle Ages? AND How did the Black Death affect Medieval England?

These units are designed to develop students’ skills in explaining the relationship between Church and monarch in Medieval England to make judgements about who had the most power and why. Students will also be developing their cause and consequence skills to look at the death of Thomas Becket and how this caused problems for monarchs. Students also practice their skills in explaining the causes and consequences of a significant event, in this case the Black Death. This will allow students to analyse the change and continuity seen in medicine since the Middle Ages.

 

Topics Include:

 

• The murder of Thomas Becket
• The importance of Magna Carta
• The arrival and effects of the Black Death in England

 

YEAR 8

TERM 1

Unit(s) Title: Why did religion in England change in the 16^th century? AND Does Bloody Mary deserve her nickname?

These units are designed to develop students’ skills in considering the reliability of sources based on who has produced them and their context. Students also work on their ability to support interpretations using source evidence.

 

Topics Include:

• The wives of Henry VIII
• English religion changing from Catholic to Protestant under Henry VIII
• The closure of the monasteries in England
• The persecution of Protestants under Mary I

 

TERM 2

Unit(s) Title: How was England turned upside in the 17^th century? AND Why did England have an Empire and how did this involve slaves?

These units are designed to develop students’ skills in linking causation to consequence to show the impact of significant events, in this case the English Civil War, and to make judgements about the people involved. Students also consider diversity and linking change and continuity. They should be making judgements about the role the British Empire played in operating and benefitting from the slave trade. They should also be making judgements about why different people had different experiences in the past.

 

Topics Include:

• The English Civil War
• Oliver Cromwell
• The British Empire
• Slavery and the abolition movement

 

TERM 3

Unit(s) Title: What can a study of Jack the Ripper tell us about Victorian London?

This unit is designed to develop students’ skills in considering significance and using historical evidence. Students should be considering the evidence we have about the Jack the Ripper murders and inferring what they can learn about Victorian London and the early police force.

 

Topics Include:

• The Jack the Ripper murders
• Early policing
• Conditions in Victorian London

 

YEAR 9

TERM 1

Unit(s) Title: Why did World War One break out in 1914?

This unit is designed to address the debates around why WW1 broke out, looking at the short and long term causes so that students are able to consider responsibility for the war.

 

Topics Include:

• The Alliances System in Europe before 1914
• The Naval Race
• The Moroccan Crises
• The Bosnian Crisis
• The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

 

TERM 2

Unit(s) Title: How was World War one fought?

This unit is designed to develop students’ skills in using sources to find out about the past and to make their own judgements about key issues. It also allows students to explore the changes in technology and the impact this had on modern warfare.

 

Topics Include:

• Recruitment to the army
• Conditions in the trenches
• Development of weapons (planes, rifles, machine guns, tanks, gas)
• The Battle of the Somme

TERM 3

Unit(s) Title: What was life like in Nazi Germany?

This unit is designed to develop students’ moral empathy and compassion in looking at the treatment of minority groups in Nazi Germany and the culmination of years of persecution; the Holocaust. Students will learn to question eyewitness accounts as sources and evaluate the utility of different forms of evidence for studying such an emotive and relatively recent subject.

 

Topics Include:

• Nazi treatment of minority groups
• Persecution of Jewish people in the 1930s
• Conditions in concentration camps
• Young people, women and workers in Nazi society

 

YEAR 10

TERM 1

Unit(s) Title: Conflict and Tension 1918-1939

This unit looks at the peace-making attempts at the end of the First World War and how these ultimately failed. It also looks at the role played by Hitler’s foreign policy in causing the Second World War.

 

Topics Include:

• The Treaty of Versailles
• The League of Nations
• Hitler’s Foreign Policy

 

TERM 2

Unit(s) Title: Russia 1894-1945: Tsardom to Communism

This unit looks at the huge changes that took place in Russia as a result of the murder of the royal family and the introduction of communism to the country.  

 

Topics Include:

• Tsarist Russia
• Russia in World War One
• The end of Tsardom
• The Bolshevik Revolution and Stalin’s USSR

TERM 3

• Unit(s) Title: Russia 1894-1945: Tsardom to Communism
• This unit looks at the huge changes that took place in Russia as a result of the murder of the royal family and the introduction of communism to the country.  
•  
• Topics Include:
• Tsarist Russia
• Russia in World War One
• The end of Tsardom
• The Bolshevik Revolution and Stalin’s USSR
• Public Health

YEAR 11

TERM 1

Unit(s) Title: Health and the People c.1000-Present Day (19^th Century and Modern Day)

This unit looks at how progress was made in these two time periods and the different factors that allowed this progress to take place. It also considers the challenges in medicine today.

 

Topics Include:

• Medical treatments
• Surgery
• Public Health

 

TERM 2

Unit(s) Title: Elizabethan England 1558-1603

This unit looks at how Elizabeth ruled England, the effects of her decisions and what people’s lives were like at the time.

 

Topics Include:

• Elizabethan Government
• Elizabethan Society, including the theatre, religion and poverty
• Elizabethan Foreign Policy, including piracy, the war with Spain and the Spanish Armada
• A study of an important Elizabethan historic environment

 

TERM 3

Unit(s) Title: Exam Preparation

 

Students review all of the GCSE topics and practice their exam technique.

 

For more information Please Contact the Head of Department: Kirsty Barlow. [email protected]