AES

Students practise their own reconstructions of the past. They find out what life was like and answer historical problems by explaining events, analysing the causes and consequences, successes and failures, evaluating evidence and questioning interpretations. In the process, we hope that while they take History and long afterwards students find the subject as fascinating as we do, whether looking at the experience of an individual or asking the big questions about society, such as why democracy was replaced by dictatorship or in what ways industrialisation brought progress.

Our aim is for students to learn how the subject works as a discipline, how it gives people an understanding of the world, themselves and others, past and present.  They learn the importance of posing questions, how to approach different questions and the significance of altering the question. They learn that history has no laws subject to proof and so no final answers, but a seeking after truth that is refined as new evidence emerges and historians revise the previous interpretations.

GCSE History:

We follow the OCR Modern World History course.

Paper 1:

ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, 1919-2005

PART 1. THE INTER-WAR YEARS, 1919-1939

• Making peace after the First World War
• League of Nations - success and failure
• The road to the Second World War in the 1930s

GERMANY 1918-1945 

• Weimar Germany, 1918-1933
• Rise of Hitler
• Nazi control of Germany
• Life in Nazi Germany
• Germany during the war

Paper 2: (Sources)

HOW WAS BRITISH SOCIETY CHANGED FROM 1890-1918?

• Liberal reforms
• Votes for women and the Suffragettes
• The Home Front during the First World War

CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT

This is coursework which is undertaken in class. It will focus on evaluating the achievement of an individual such as: 'How important was Nelson Mandela in bringing the end of apartheid and minority rule in South Africa?

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. Haile Selassie, 1892-1975, Emperor of Ethiopia

Sixth Form:

There are three courses to choose from:

IB Standard and Higher History

You will study a variety of topics which could include:

• Peacemaking: international relations, 1918-1936
• The Arab-Israeli conflict, 1945-1979
• Communism in crisis, 1976-1989
• Single Party States: Stalin and the USSR, Mao and China, Castro and Cuba
• The Cold War: Origins, Conflicts, Arms Race, Détente, End
• Warfare: Korean War, Vietnam War, Guerrilla Warfare
• Higher Course only: 19^th Century European History: Europe around 1815. The unification of Italy and Germany. France, 1814-1871. Russia, 1855-1924.

• Unit 1: France in Revolution 1774-1815
• Unit 2: The Church and State: The Struggle for Supremacy 1520-47
• Unit 3: The Triumph of Elizabeth: England, 1547-1603
• Unit 4: The Middle East, 1895-2000

Setting arrangements

Year 7 students are taught in their mixed ability tutor groups.  In Years 8 and 9 students are placed in sets in History with Geography according to their ability.  In Years 10 and 11 the setting arrangements are dependent on the uptake in the year group.  In recent years, there has always been a straightforward hierarchy of sets in each option group where History appears.

Don't forget your history nor your destiny. Bob Marley, 1945-1981, Jamaican musician and singer-songwriter

Assessment Practices:

At all stages students are shown what they are aiming for in terms of National Curriculum levels and examination syllabuses.  They are given opportunities to think through and use assessment criteria for themselves, for example by occasionally assessing each other's work, such as a class presentation or a practice exam answer.  Teachers give feedback to pupils in marking and individual advice in class in order that each student knows how to improve.

In Key Stage 3, students are regularly assessed using a common assessment tasks. Annual formal examinations are held for those in year 8 and 9.  Students are assessed according to national curriculum levels.

GCSE history consists of two papers, Paper 1 (2 hours) and Paper 2 (1 ½ hours), these exams are taken at the end of year 11. During the course students regularly undertake end of unit tests. They sit formal end of year/mock exams in year 10 and in year 11. Controlled Assessment takes place in lesson time during the Autumn Term of year 11.

Sixth Form history is formally assessed through a variety of examinations and coursework.

History is, in its essentials, the science of change. It knows and it teaches that it is impossible to find two events that are ever exactly alike, because the conditions from which they spring are never identical. Marc Bloch, 1886-1944, French historian who was shot as a member of the Resistance

Extra Curricular:

We run a variety of activities including a Year 10 visit to the Imperial War Museum and a Key Stage 3 photography club.

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing. Molière, 1622-1673, French playwright

Self Study:

Students are expected to organise their work independently and meet all deadlines. Students are encouraged to take responsibility for planning, drafting and proof reading their work.

In the event students are unable to attend school for reasons such as emergency snow closure, etc., they should pursue activities relevant to their current topic available on the website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education

Alternatively, if pupils have a note of the login and password, they could work through the relevant activities and games at: www.activehistory.co.uk