Welcome to the History Department:
| Head of Humantities | Mr M. Sears |
| Teacher of History | Mr J. Butler |
| Teacher of History | Ms Z. Thompson |
The Key Stage 3 History Curriculum at Ernest Bevin is a vitally important and challenging phase of students’ learning. It is designed to be ambitious, enjoyable and knowledge rich; sparking students’ curiosity and passion for learning about the past. The overarching intention is that students become articulate and deeply knowledgeable subject specialists. Students are expected to write, speak and adopt the habits of historians, for example making substantiated judgements, having a deep respect for evidence and using academic vocabulary confidently.
The history curriculum is designed to ensure students develop the crucial subject specific knowledge and disciplinary understanding needed to succeed at Key Stage 4, 5 and beyond by providing a solid foundation, embedding critical knowledge and skills and providing opportunities for students to master the discipline’s second-order concepts: change and continuity, causation, significance, interpretations, evidence. As such, each unit is framed by an overarching, challenging enquiry question and lessons are sequenced and designed to ensure pupils make progress by acquiring the knowledge needed to answer that question effectively as a means of assessment. KS3 as a journey to KS5 and beyond, a process of acquiring the knowledge, skills and habits of an expert historian. By the end of Key stage Three we expect students to understand the significance of studying history, its relevance for understanding the world today and its importance in key areas such as developing tolerance, respect and understanding towards others.
Key Stage 3 students complete 2 written assessments each half term. These are completed in class and marked to judge student’s progress against expected standards across four groups of history skills: core concepts; source skills; explanation and evaluation (of causation, consequence, change and continuity or significance) and interpretations.
Autumn Term 1: History Skills and Migration to Britain through time
In this unit students will be introduced to the key skills used in Key Stage 3 History such as chronology, units of time and source skills. They will practice these skills by studying the impact of migration into Britain from prehistoric times to the present day.
Assessments:
- Chronology activity
- End of unit test covering all the core skills taught in the unit
Autumn Term 2: The Norman Conquest
This unit will focus on the question of how the Normans took over England in 1066.
Assessments:
- Explain why three different men claimed the throne of England in 1066
- End of unit essay: ‘Why did William win the battle of Hastings?’
Spring terms 1 and 2: The Power of Medieval Kings
This unit will focus on how much power Medieval Kings had, where this power came from and how it came to be challenged by various groups over time. It will examine the Feudal system, Domesday book, death of Thomas Becket, Magna Carta, Social impact of the Black Death and the Peasant’s Revolt.
Assessments:
- KAT 1: Source Skills: What is the best source for finding out about the murder of Thomas Becket?
- KAT 2: Explain why King John upset the Barons
- KAT 3: Source Skills: What can we infer from sources about the Black Death?
- End of unit summative assessment: Who were the winners and losers in the fight for power in the medieval period?
Summer 1: Medieval Peasants and Baghdad
This term students will study two mini enquiries. The first 4 lesson mini-enquiry into the lives of medieval peasants will be entirely based on sources to show students how historians use evidence to make conclusions about the past. The second will focus on the question: “How was Baghdad connected to the wider world?” and include the rise of Islam, the Silk roads, Baghdad as a centre for politics, architecture, scholarship and trade and the Abbasid Caliphate
Assessments:
- What sources would be most suited for finding out about medieval peasants?
- How was Baghdad connected to the wider world?
Summer 2: The Crusades
This unit looks at the impact of the crusades on the holy lands by studying: What were the crusades?; Why did people join the crusades? Key events of the crusades and the impact of the crusades.
Assessments:
Interpretations question
Autumn Term 1: The Reformation
This term students will answer the question: “What was the main factor driving religious change throughout the Tudor dynasty?”
Assessments:
- Why did Henry VIII break from Rome? (Explanation of causation)
- End of unit summative assessment: Religious rollercoaster
Autumn Term 2: The Gunpowder Plot and the English Civil War
In this term the students will study a mini topic to examine what the most useful sources are for finding out about the Gunpowder Plot. This will be followed up by a study of the consequences of the English Civil War.
Assessments:
- What are the most useful sources for finding out about the Gunpowder Plot?
- Explain two consequences of the English Civil War.
Spring Term 1: Slavery
Enquiry Question: What drove British involvement in the slave trade: racism or greed?
To answer this question students will look at the treatment of Black people in Britain up to 1900; the development of plantation slavery in the Americas; the slave trade and abolition.
Assessments:
- Source Usefulness
- Summative Assessment: What drove British involvement in the slave trade: racism or greed? Essay
Spring Term 2: The Industrial Revolution
This unit will look at the huge changes that took place during the Industrial revolution in Britain. This includes a study of the causes of the industrial revolution as well as its significance.
Assessments:
- Causes of the Industrial Revolution
- End of unit summative assessment; What was the significance of the Industrial Revolution?
Summer Term 1: Democracy in Britain
This unit will look at how Britain became a democracy and focus on sources.
Assessments:
- Source Usefulness.
Summer Term 2: The British Empire
This unit looks at the significance of the British Empire and evaluates different interpretations of it by studying British colonialism in India and Africa. Students will then use what they have learned to consider what the best way to Empire is and design a suitable memorial.
Assessments:
- End of unit summative assessment: Design a memorial for the British Empire.
Year 9
Autumn Term 1: World War One
This term students will study why the first world war happened and what the experience of soldiers in the trenches was. It also includes a 4 lesson mini-topic on the role of Empire soliders in the British war effort.
Assessments:
- Essay: What was the most important reason for the outbreak of war in 1914?
- What are the most useful sources for finding out about empire soldiers?
Autumn Term 2: The Russian Revolution
These lesson look at the reasons for revolution in Russia and what life was like under the communist rule of Lenin and Stalin.
Assessments:
- Explanation: What were the causes of the Russian Revolution?
- Tbc
Spring Term 1: World War II
This term students will examine how much credit Britain deserves for winning world war II. This will include studying the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, D-Day and the role of other countries in the war such as the Americans and Russians.
Assessments:
- Interpretations: Differences Between Interpretations
- Interpretations essay: What interpretation do you agree with about the importance of Britain’s role in world war II?
Spring Term 2: The Holocaust & the history of conflict in Israel and Palestine
Students will spend 8 lessons looking at the holocaust include the reasons for it and its significance. They will then spend 4 lessons looking at the roots of modern conflict in the middle east.
Assessments:
- Causes of the Holocaust
- Causes of conflict in the Middle East
Summer Term 1: Fighting for Social Change
This will focus on how social change has been achieved in the 20th century. It will introduce the concept of peaceful protest and focus on three case studies: Gandhi in India, Martin Luther King and Civil Rights and the movement for Gay rights in the UK
Assessments:
- Source Skills: Inferences
- Source Skills: Usefulness
Summer Term 2: How has immigration to Britain changed modern Britain?
This will focus on immigration to Britain since 1945.
Assessments:
- Source Skills: Inferences
- Interpretations
- Significance of immigration
What you will study:
Paper 1: Thematic study and historic environment:
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches.
Paper 2: Period study and British depth study:
Early Elizabethan England, 1558-1588
and Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–9
Paper 3: Modern depth study: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39
How is it assessed?
Assessment
Paper 1: Written examination: 1 hour and 15 minutes 30% of the qualification.
Paper 2: Written examination: 1 hour and 45 minutes 40% of the qualification.
Paper 3: Written examination: 1 hour and 20 minutes 30% of the qualification.
Why consider this course?
History provides students with the useful transferable skills of extended writing, analytical thinking, the development of argument and the critical evaluation of the written word. It will provide them with the necessary skills to go on to study humanities-based subjects at A- Level and beyond. The non-tiered examination structure provides students with opportunities to progress and develop over the two-year course. GCSE History offers a fascinating and varied look at the past covering four very interesting topics.
Skills you will gain:
The aims of this qualification are to enable students to:
- develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in local, British, and wider world history; and of the wide diversity of human experience.
- engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers.
- develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context.
- develop an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them.
- organise and communicate their historical knowledge and understanding in different ways and reach substantiated conclusions.
Additional resources
The links below will take you to some additional resources which may help students with their studies. Please note they are external to Ernest Bevin College.
