History

Curriculum

History helps students gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It inspires students' curiosity to know more about the past.

History equips students to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. It helps students to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Curriculum overview

	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
7	Citizen Me: – Halesowen Local history during the Black Death. – The Black Death – The Plague – Population impacts	Journey to the Centre of the Earth: – Pompeii – Pliny the Younger – Mount Vesuvius	In Days of Old: – Norman Conquest, 1066 – Middle Ages – Battle of Fulford – Battle of Stamford Bridge – Monarchy – Power of Military Power and leadership during battles – The three claims to the throne – William the Conqueror – Bayeux Tapestry – Castles and Sieges – Medieval methods of attacking castles and design changes	In Days of Old: – Feudal System – Doomsday Book – Crusades – Thomas Becket – King John – Magna Carta – Black Death – Advancements in medicine – Peasant’s Revolt – Wat Tyler – Hundred Year’s War – Battle of Agincourt – Joan of Arc	Off With Your Head: – The Wars of the Roses – Tudor and Stuart monarchs – Issues kings and queens experienced – Henry VIII and his six wives – Protestant reformation – Mary I	Off With Your Head: – Elizabeth I – Spanish Armada – Religious turmoil – The Gunpowder Plot – James I and Charles I – English Civil War – Cromwell – Charles II and the Restoration
8	Early Modern Britain: – Aspects of life in the 16th – 18th Centuries – Features of society – Beginnings of migration to larger settlements – Great Fire of London: – Causes and consequences of the Great Fire – The Great Plague: The impact of the Great Plague – Britain: – Motivations for migration from different historical periods Case Study Syria: – Reasons for civil conflict in Syria and the social, political and economic consequences	History of Migration into Mughal India: – Key Mughal Emperors – Comparison of India and Britain during the same time period, linking to prior learning on the Tudors British rule in India: – Empire – The role of the East India Company – Indian rebellion of 1857 – British rule – Mahatma Gandhi – India’s Independence – Partition in India	Empire: – How Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world – Slavery in the Americas: – Trade triangle – Thomas Clarkson – Source investigation – Civil Rights in America – Jim Crow Laws – Martin Luther King – Malcolm X	Suffragettes/Suffragists: – What life was like for women in the 19th Century. – Techniques used by suffragettes and suffragists. Modern Day Slavery: – Comparing modern day slavery- human trafficking to slavery in the 1700s.	Industrial Revolution: – Changes in Britain, individuals, ideas and technology – Local history – Victorian England	WW1: – Trenches – Western Front – No Man’s Land – The Christmas Truce. – Treaty of Versailles – The Big Three – Allied Powers
9	Whose Earth Is It Anyway: – Explore the context of Mansa Musa and his Malian Empire in West Africa – Explain the significance of Mansa Musa and his achievements – Scramble for Africa – Describe the role of European imperialism in Africa in the 19th century.	Tragedy: – Effects of the First World War – Adolf Hitler and the Nazis – Weakness of the Weimar Republic – Nazi Propaganda – Summary and source analysis The Second World War: – Axis advances 1939-1940 – Turning the tide 1941-43 – Impact of the Second World War on civilians in Britain – Moral dilemmas in war – Antisemitism – Ghettos – Mass killings and the Final Solution – Perpetrators and final responsibility	Careers/Made in China: – Communism – Mao and the Chinese Communist Party – Revolution	Careers/Made in China: – Communism – Mao and the Chinese Communist Party – Revolution	America: – Arrival of European colonisers in North America – Native Americans/Indigenous peoples and their ways of life – Conflict between the settlers and the Native Americans – The causes of the American Civil War – The lives of Black Americans and how they changed in the aftermath of the Civil War – Immigration to American in the 19th and 20th centuries – The events and impact of the 911 attacks on the USA	Britain: – Origins of the Cold War – Key events of the Cold War – Britain’s role in the Cold War – The end of the Cold War – Workers and trade unions – The making of the Welfare State – Development of rights of people groups (black people, LGBTQ+, women)
10	Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588 – Queen, Government and Religion, 1558 – 1569: – The situation on Elizabeth’s accession – The ‘settlement’ of religion – Challenge to the Religious Settlement – The problem of Mary, Queen of Scots	Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588 – Challenges to Elizabeth at home and abroad, 1569 – 1588: – Plots and revolts at home – Relations with Spain – Outbreak of war with Spain, 1585-1588	Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588 – Elizabethan Society in the Age of Exploration, 1558 – 1588: – Education and Leisure – The American West – The problem of the poor – Raleigh and Virginia – Exploration and voyages of discovery	The American West c.1835-1890: – Migration and settlement c.1835-1862 – The development of migration and settlement in the West 1862-1876	The American West c.1835-1890: – Indian Relations c.1835-1876 – Indian Relations c.1876-1895 Weimar and Nazi Germany: – The origins of the Republic 1918 – 1919 – Early challenges to the Republic 1919 – 23 – Recovery of the Republic 1924-1929	Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939: – Changes in society 1924-1929 – Hitler’s rise to power, 1919–33 – The Munich Putsch and the lean years, 1923-1929 – The growth in support for the Nazis 1929-1932 – How Hitler became chancellor 1932-1933
11	Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939 – Nazi control and dictatorship, 1933–39: – Creation of a dictatorship 1933-1934 – The police state – Controlling and influencing attitudes – Opposition resistance and conformity – Life in Nazi Germany, 1933–39: – Nazi Policies towards women – Nazi policies towards the young – Employment and living standards – Persecution of minorities	Migrants in Britain c.800 to the present – c800–c1500: Migration in medieval England: – The context for migration – The experience and impact of migrants – Case study The city of York under the Vikings. c1500–c1700 Migration in early modern England: – The context for migration – The experience and impact of migrants – Case study Sandwich and Canterbury in the sixteenth century	Migrants in Britain c.800 to the present – c1700–c1900: Migration in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain: – The context for migration – The experience and impact of migrants – Case study Liverpool in the nineteenth century	Migrants in Britain c.800 to the present – c1900–present: Migration in modern Britain: – The context for migration – The experience and impact of migrants – Case study Bristol in the mid-twentieth century	Revision and Exam preparation
12 Unit 1	Monarchs and parliaments 1603-29: – The Political Nation and the basis of power – James I and Charles I: character, court and favourites – The finances of the crown	Monarchs and parliaments 1603-29: – Religion and religious division – Relations and disputes with parliament 1604-29	Monarchs and parliaments 1603-29: – The state of relations between crown and parliament by 1629 – Divisions over religion Revolution 1629-49: – Political divisions: the Personal Rule and the Short Parliament	Revolution 1629-49: – Political divisions: the Long Parliament, Pym and the outbreak of civil war – The First Civil War: England, Scotland and Ireland	Revolution 1629-49: – The Second Civil War – Social divisions: political and religious radicalism, the Levellers and millenarians	Revolution 1629-49: – The failure to secure a post-war settlement: divisions between army and parliament and the regicide
12 Unit 2	The Establishment and early years of Weimar, 1918–1924: – The impact of war and the political crises of October to November 1918	The Establishment and early years of Weimar, 1918–1924: – Political instability and extremism The ‘Golden Age’ of the Weimar Republic, 1924–1928: – Economic developments: Stresemann; the Dawes Plan; industry, agriculture and the extent of recovery; the reparations issue and the Young Plan Social developments	The ‘Golden Age’ of the Weimar Republic, 1924–1928: – Political developments and the workings of democracy – Germany’s international position	The Collapse of Democracy, 1928–1933: – The economic, social and political impact of the Depression – The appeal of Nazism and Communism	The Collapse of Democracy, 1928–1933: – Hindenburg, Papen, Schleicher and the ‘backstairs intrigue’ leading to Hitler’s appointment as chancellor – Political developments	The Nazi Dictatorship, 1933–1939 : – Hitler’s consolidation of power, March 1933–1934
13 Unit 1	From republic to restored and limited monarchy: – The consolidation of the Republic – Political divisions and experiments	From republic to restored and limited monarchy: – Cromwell and the Protectorate – Charles II and the Restoration	The establishment of constitutional monarchy 1678-1702: – Political developments and conflicts – The ‘Glorious Revolution’ and its consolidation in England, Scotland and Ireland – Divisions within the Political Nation	The establishment of constitutional monarchy 1678-1702: Religious changes: Anglicanism, Protestantism, Catholicism and toleration Government under William and Mary	The establishment of constitutional monarchy 1678-1702: – The condition of Britain and its monarchy by 1702
13 Unit 2	The Nazi Dictatorship, 1933–1939: The ‘Terror State’ Economic policies	The Nazi Dictatorship, 1933–1939: – Social policies The Racial State, 1933–1941: – The radicalisation of the state – Anti-Semitism	The Racial State, 1933–1941: – The development of anti-Semitic policies and actions – The treatment of Jews in the early years of war The impact of War, 1939–1945: – Rationing, indoctrination, propaganda and morale	The impact of War, 1939–1945: – The wartime economy and the work of Speer – The impact of bombing – Policies towards the Jews and the ‘untermenschen’	The impact of War, 1939–1945: – Opposition and resistance in wartime including students, churchmen, the army and civilian critics – Assassination attempts and the July Bomb Plot

KS4 COURSE

WHAT IS THE COURSE ABOUT?

Edexcel GCSE History

GCSE History is an academically challenging and rigorous subject that demands commitment on the part of the students who study it.

Unit 1 – Thematic Study and historic environment: Warfare and British society, c1250–present and London and the Second World War, 1939–45.
Unit 2 – British Depth Study: Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88.
Unit 3 – Period Study: The American West, c1835–c1895
Unit 4 – Modern Depth Study: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39

This course is assessed by four examination papers which are held in the summer term at the end of Year 11. There is no coursework. Students will be prepared for this by classwork, homework which is set every week with regular feedback and regular examination question practice. Within the classroom, students will have the opportunity to express their views and debate the significance of the topics studied.

WHAT CAN HISTORY LEAD TO?

All A-levels and different degree courses.

The study of people is at the heart of History- their feelings, attitudes, prejudices and motivation. This understanding is very useful in the ‘people professions’, from receptionists, hairdressers and beauticians to teachers, the health service, social work, lawyers, and civil servants.

History teaches key life skills and helps to prepare students for interviews and university life.

HOW WILL I BE ASSESSED?

Four examination papers across three sessions at the end of Year 11. There is no coursework or controlled assessment.

WHAT SKILLS ARE REQUIRED?

Independent learning, high quality written communication skills, sophisticated vocabulary, analytical and evaluative skills, ability to evaluate primary sources and historical interpretations.

Mr Smith

Head of Department

I studied for an undergraduate degree in Ancient History at Cardiff University and a Masters degree in the History of Christianity at the University of Birmingham before completing a PGCE at the University of Warwick. I started teaching at Shireland Collegiate Academy in 2013 and have been Head of the Humanities Faculty since 2018.