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History

Curriculum Intent

History at Grace Academy Coventry will provide a broad, balanced and fascinating view of history of both Britain and the wider world. It will prepare our students for the world outside of education and allow them to participate fully in British society and in the debates about its past. Students will learn to discuss different viewpoints showing tolerance and respect and will learn a range of important topics to support their academic understanding through KS4 and beyond, both within History and in other subjects, where understanding the past is vital.
Students will learn this through a combination of important substantive concepts such as:

  • monarchy during the medieval period
  • the development of democracy in the 1800’s and 1900’s
  • the broad changes to social attitudes and structure since WWII.

Students will fuse this substantive understanding with key disciplinary skills, and by the end of their period of study, students will be able to:

- explain causation, consequence and significance in an increasingly accurate and
detailed manner.
- use sources in context, applying increasingly sophisticated methods of analysis and evaluation to test these sources for their utility and make reasoned judgements.
- develop the skill required to understand the different ways in which the past has been interpreted and represented by others, as well as to explain and critique those interpretations.

History will be assessed through a range of formative and summative assessment to gauge student’s progress and establish their grasp of the curriculum so that misconceptions and gaps can be swiftly addressed, including those that might exist from uneven coverage at KS2.

This term, we are studying… 

Year 7

Year 7 will have an introduction to History skills through the study of the Roman Empire in Britain. This will include focussing on key ideas such as sources, skills and the work of historians in uncovering the past, as well as looking at the impact that the Romans had on the UK.

 

Year 7 will also study the Norman Conquest as their second topic. This focusses on explaining how and why the Normans were able to win the battle of Hastings and keep control of England afterwards. It then explores some of the longer term changes that the Normans made to the UK. 

This unit will introduce some of the fundamental skills of historians such as: the use of sources as contemporary evidence, how and why the past has been interpreted in different ways and the basic skills of chronology. This will provide a basis for all future study of history. It builds on work done previously at KS2 and develops their understanding further. 

 

The Normans unit will continue to develop the skills established in the first unit. It will also focus on a vital event in British history as well as developing the ability of students to understand concepts such as causation and significance. 

Year 8

Year 8 will begin the Year by studying the Transatlantic Slave Trade. They will focus on experience of the enslaved peoples, how Britain benefitted from the slave trade. The course will then develop the understanding of how enslaved people helped to win their free and the work of the Abolitionists in ending slavery before we look at why slavery remains a controversial issue today. 

 

Year 8 will then study the Industrial Revolution. The focus will mainly be upon its social impact on the people of Britain and how it led to urbanisation. The impact on health, crime, women and children will all be studied. Students will gain a deep understanding of hierarchy, social structure and living conditions that will support their understanding of the development of democracy  

This unit picks up chronologically from the study of the Tudors at the end of Year 7 where students were introduced to Queen Elizabeth. The unit continues to develop the skills of analysis and evaluation of sources and interpretations about the past. It will allow students the powerful knowledge to engage in debates about the issues, and show how important the role of former enslaved people such as Mary Prince was in the fight for Abolition. 

 

Students will use the backdrop of their understanding of slavery to link to the Industrial revolution. The themes of industrialisation and slavery will be linked. This will allow students the powerful knowledge to understand the later topics of Suffrage and the British Empire. 

Year 9

Year 9 will complete their study of WWI by exploring why Germany lost and the impact of the Treaty of Versailles. The rise of Nazism and Communism will be studied and compared. The causes of WWII will be explored. The different ways that WWII has been interpreted will then be the main focus: this will involve looking at different key events during the war such as Dunkirk, the Battle of Britian,  Pearl Harbor and the use of the Atomic Bomb. 

 

Students will then study the background to and the events of the Holocaust. This will involve a range of source work, challenge misconceptions and encourage a debate about accountability for the Holocaust. 

Students finished Year 8 with a study of WWI, this will allow them to develop their understanding further into the causes and events of WWII. This unit allows further development of source skills and the evaluation of interpretations. Students will be producing their own interpretations of important events. They will be able to judge the significance of the events of the war. 

 

The study of the Holocaust will build both on the knowledge and skills developed in the first unit. Students will be able to link ill-feeling form WWI, the rise of the Nazis and the deeper historical context to explain the origins of the Holocaust. They will also be able to place the Holocaust. 

Year 10

Year 10 will study Edexcel  History Paper 1: Medicine Through Time. This consists of 4 units to be completed by Christmas. 

  • Medieval Medicine 1250 - 1500  

  • Renaissance Medicine 1500 to 1700  ( where old ideas were challenged by individuals and science). 

  • Industrial Medicine 1700 - 1900 

  • Modern Medicine  1900 – Present. 

The course studies the role of religion, science, key individuals and the government in helping medicine to progress across a wide span of British history

 

Medicine through Time is a thematic option in GCSE and links backward through the KS3 curriculum. For example, it revisits the Middle Ages, the Industrial period and WWI that the students have studied previous. 

The skills of extended writing, making judgements and explaining causation are also built on the foundations built at KS3. 

Year 11

 

Students will start the study of the Cold War for Paper 2. This will involve three units, including 

  • The Early Cold War 

  • Cold War Crises – Berlin, Cuba and Czechoslovakia 

  • The Later Cold War: Détente and the eventual collapse of the Soviet block

 

This unit involves a considerable amount of knowledge and the ability to apply to questions. 

 

The Cold War is sequenced here as there is a logical flow from the events of Nazi Germany. This improves their ability to access the course and many of the key concepts like ideologies  and Communism have already been covered during the Germany unit. 

Year 12

Year 12 will be studying two units from Paper 1G (Nationalism, dictatorship and democracy ijn 20th Century Europe) in parallel. 

They will study the political and economic problems faced by the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi party. They will also focus on the social and cultural changes that happened during this period and the impact of the Great Depression on society and how this led to Nazi rule in Germany. 

 

They will also study the rise of Fascism in Italy. They will study Liberal Pre-war Italy, and the challenges that they faced in modernising. Year 12 will then study the impact of WWI on Italy, and the rise in social and political problems following the “mutilated peace” of 1919. They will then explore the methods and successes of Mussolini in seizing and power in 1922 after the March on Rome. 

Most students will have a grounding in the ideas of nationalism and dictatorship from the KS4 curriculum which allows the students to build depth into their understanding of the main events and allowing a stronger and more sophisticated explanation of the key events of the period. 

 

Italy is a totally new topic but it does have many parallels with the Germany topic. Students will be able to compare the challenges of Italy to those faced by the Weimar Republic and also to compare how the same forces of propaganda, violence and nationalism shaped Italian politics and influenced those in Germany at the same time. 

Qualification information:

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html

Curriculum content:

Attached are the curriculum maps which outline the sequence we use in order to structure our learning. If you would like to support your child's learning, we have attached links to Oak National Academy who provide lessons, activities and resources for commonly taught topics. Please use the curriculum map for this subject before visiting:

https://teachers.thenational.academy/subjects/history/key-stages/key-stage-3

https://teachers.thenational.academy/subjects/history/key-stages/key-stage-4

Our Values

LIMITLESS POTENTIAL 
We can achieve so much more than we think we can

INTENTIONAL EXCELLENCE

Success doesn’t happen by accident

MUTUAL RESPECT

Everyone deserves to feel valued and important

GENUINE INTEGRITY

Honesty and doing the right thing are what really counts

AMAZING GRACE

Life is better with fresh starts and second chances