History

AIMS

  • To stimulate curiosity, interest, and enjoyment of History amongst pupils.
  • To cultivate a sense of the past through the knowledge of events, people, motives and outcomes.
  • To help pupils to develop an appreciation of how we gain knowledge about the past and perceive History in the context of a wider body of knowledge, vocabulary, and skills.
  • To encourage open, enquiring minds and the development of informed opinions, supported by reasoned arguments.
  • To encourage the reading of serious historical literature.
  • To encourage and develop the skills of analysis, judgement, and extended writing.

CURRICULUM

Key Stage 5

At A level we draw on the strengths of the teachers in the Department. At present we follow the new Edexcel Specification Route E: Communist States in the Twentieth Century.

Year 12

  • Paper 1: Russia, 1917–91: from Lenin to Yeltsin
  • Paper 2: The German Democratic Republic, 1949-90

Year 13

  • Paper 3: Protest, agitation, and parliamentary reform in Britain, 1780-1928
  • Coursework: Students focus on the perpetration of the Holocaust

Revision and examination preparation

TRIPS AND VISITS

The Department has run two successful trips to the Battlefields of Ypres and the Somme. In 2018 the Department ran its own First World War Commemoration trip following the stories of the old boys who fought and died in the conflict in Belgium and France.

In July 2017, we ran a three-day visit to Berlin with a focus on the Cold War and life in the GDR. In 2019 this was expanded to a 5 day trip that also visited several sites linked to the perpetration of the Holocaust.

In December 2017, our Sixth Form took a two-day trip to London which included visits to Parliament and several Museums.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR

The Department has established links with the Holocaust Education Trust. In November, each year, at least two Sixth Form students are invited to take part in a three-day course: Lessons from Auschwitz.

In December 2017, the Department was the venue for a temporary exhibition on the life of Anne Frank, this was organised through the Anne Frank Trust and in 2018 we organised a day trip to visit the Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam.

For more information please contact:

Mr. M Lockwood

Joint Head of Humanities (History)