History

History has always been an exciting and enriching subject to study, and a curiosity about the past is a basic human need. Understanding the past gives a fuller appreciation of present-day political, military, social, economic, religious, scientific and cultural developments in Europe and the wider world.

Consider the impact of the discovery of anaesthetics, antiseptics and blood groups for modern surgery; why was the NHS set up in 1948 and what problems remain today as the service and funding continue to be stretched?

How close was the world to nuclear Armageddon in the years after the Second World War? In the four hundred years after the death of William Shakespeare what influence and legacy did he leave on the modern world? How is Hitler’s persecution of minorities in Germany in the 1930’s still relevant in Europe eighty years later? The GCSE course also develops a number of important skills.

Course Content

The course builds upon the content of the KS3 curriculum and prepares pupils for the study of History at A level and beyond. The course taught is Edexcel GCSE (9-1) History and compromises of five elements, which cover a range of interesting, relevant and thought-provoking content ranging from the Middle Ages through to the Modern World and covering aspects of political, military, social, economic, religious and cultural history of England, Britain, Europe and the wider world.

• Medicine in Britain, c1250 – present

• The British Sector of the Western Front, 1914-18; injuries, treatment and the trenches

• Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91

• Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88
• Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39