History
Key Stage 3
Students in key stage 3 have two timetabled lessons of History per week. The history curriculum aims to inspire students to become well rounded and passionate historians who think critically about the world they inhabit.
In their study of history, they will consider a range of perspectives and develop the ability to make balanced arguments and well sustained judgements. They will develop an understanding of how our history forms our sense of identity and place in the world, and through studying a range of periods and peoples will become more empathetic and open minded.
Through a knowledge rich curriculum, students will gain an in-depth understanding of a range of events and issues throughout history and build their historical literacy and conceptual understanding. This will ensure students can positively encounter and understand the dynamics of the modern world. Throughout key stage 3 there are many opportunities to build a foundation of knowledge, embed that knowledge and prepare them for their continued study at GCSE.
Key Stage 4
At key stage 4 students will have 3 timetabled lessons of History per week. Students choosing to take history will study 4 units, each comprising a range of topics.
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches (Paper 1)
They will study change and continuity in medicine from medieval medicine all the way up to modern medical advances. Students will explore the patterns of change and the factors that encouraged or inhibited change, including the role of religion, Technology and attitudes in society. For each period of history, we will examine the different ideas behind the causes of illness and the different approaches to prevent and treat these illnesses. Alongside this, students learn who people would seek out care with their health and key individuals who tried to make progress in our understanding of medicine and peoples' health.
The study of the Western front is a source-based section to look at a historical environment to deepen students' understanding.
Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88 (Paper 2)
These will include what challenges Elizabeth faced at home and abroad across her early reign from the initial challenges Elizabeth had to bear centering on her gender and how legitimate her claim to be queen were culminating in the attempt to colonise the Americas in the failed Roanoke colony. In between students judge how well Elizabeth dealt with religious dissent and political unrest; the threats surrounding Mary Queen of Scots; The cause of the Spanish Armada and reasons for its failure; and Britain’s role in the Age of Exploration. The students are judging the changing relations between England and Spain over this period.
Superpower Relations and the Cold War 1941 to 1991 (Paper 2)
This will include the origins and developments of the Cold War. Students use case studies at key points to judge levels of tension between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R., alongside their two spheres of influence. Students begin in the Second World War examining how tension appears in the Grand Alliance chiefly focused on what fate should befall Germany once the war was over. The Cold War develops from fear and suspicion such as the invention and use of the atomic bomb by the United States and the actions of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. The division of Berlin into zones, creation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact exacerbate the Cold War, whilst key Cold War Crises: The Berlin airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Wall are evaluated.
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39 (Paper 3)
Students study this short period in history in depth to understand the complex social, political, economic and cultural changes that occurred in Germany between the two World Wars. Topics include: the trials and triumphs of the Weimar Republic including social and political crisis as well as a growth in culture and personal freedoms, Hitler’s initial failed attempt to seize power in Germany and then his rise to power via the ballot box and elections, Nazi policies of control using fear and propaganda, opposition to the Nazis, and the persecution of groups within society such as the Jewish community.
Extra-Curricular Opportunities
There are two residential trips that History students have the opportunity of attending at Coleridge, the Year 9 Battlefields and Year 10 Berlin trips. (add)
Year 10 Pupils in Berlin visit many sites of historical and cultural significance, in and around Berlin including; the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, the Brandenberg gate, a guided tour of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, entrance to the Museum of Terror, visit to the iconic TV tower at Alexanderplatz and a bus tour of Berlin. These sites are of specific historical interest to students studying History GCSE as the syllabus includes a study of the Holocaust and the treatment of Jews, and other ethnic, cultural and political groups persecuted in Nazi Germany. It is also relevant to the Cold War module, covered in Year 11, with visits to Check Point Charlie, the DDR museum and sections of the Berlin Wall.
From 2023-24 our year 9 students shall visit the battlefields of France and Belgium. Based at the peace village, near Ypres, they shall compare the acts of commemoration between commonwealth war grave cemeteries and memorials with the Germany cemetery at Langemark. Visits to the Menin Gate, Thiepval, Beaumont-Hamel and Talbot House give experiences of the lives and acts of remembrance for the soldiers and the fallen of The First World War. This builds on the work on students in KS3 and feeds into their study at GCSE of the Western Front for the history of medicine
Hide message history
NA