History Subject Overview
Statement of Intent
Why we teach History - The big picture
Roots taught throughout the Key Stages
- Chronology
- Historical Events
- Significance
- Continuity
- Use of evidence to reach substantiated judgements
- Inference
- Analysis
- Cause and effect
Our aims for the whole child
- To promote British values
- To be an active citizen
- To use their right to vote
- To become a critical thinker
- To stand up for what is right and understand the rule of law
- To problem solve
- To be tolerant of other cultures and have mutual respect for others
Catholic Ethos
History enables students to learn from lessons of the past for a brighter future. We want students to stand up for injustices, be active citizens, believe in the value of democracy and contribute to wider society. Jesus taught us to care and nurture the most vulnerable regardless of race, gender and religion through parables such as the Good Samaritan and our History curriculum reflects these teachings.
Subject Overviews
KS3 Curriculum Map
KS3 Overview
Year 7 Topics
What is History?: Chronology, timelines, historical terminology, studying sources and handling evidence.
Pre-1066 Britain, patterns of migration: Romans, Vikings and the spread of Chrisitanity.
Contenders to the throne in 1066.
The Norman Conquest.
Medieval Church and society.
Challenge to Medieval monarchy – Magna Carta.
The Black Death and its impact.
The consolidation of the Tudor dynasty: End of the War of Roses, Henry VII, Henry VIII and his Break from Rome.
Year 8 Topics
The ‘Golden Age’ of Queen Elizabeth I: Elizabethan portraiture, Religious settlement, the Spanish Armada adn Elizabethan exploration.
The turmoil of the 17th century: the reigns of James I, Charles I, the English Civil War, the witch craze and the Great Fire of London.
The development of the British Empire: the rise and fall of the Empire, was the British Empire a force for good?
The transatlantic slave trade: why it developed and conditions of the Middle Passage.
Everyday life of the plantations in the Americas.
Slave resistance, Britain’s involvement in slave economies and abolition.
The causes and consequences of the American Civil War.
Racism and segregation in the USA.
The struggle for African-American civil rights in the USA.
Year 9 Topics
The Industrial Revolution and its consquences on living and working conditions.
The struggle for democratic rights: Peterloo, Chartism and the campaigns for female suffrage.
The Titanic disaster – what can the disaster tell us about social class?
Long and short term causes of the First World War.
The First World WAr and peacemaking: Stalemate, the Somme, conscientious objectors, Treaty of Versailles.
Causes of the Russian Revolution and life in the communist state.
The USA in the 1920s and 1930s: Economic boom, social change, the Great Depression and its impact.
Weimar and Nazi Germany: the transformation from democracy to dictatorship, features of the Nazi dictatorship, persecution and the Holocaust.
Key turning points of the Second World War: Causes , Dunkirk evacuation, Battle of Britain, the Home Front and the use of atomic weapons.
KS4 Curriculum Map
KS4 Overview
Exam board: EDEXCEL – September 2021 onwards
St Mary’s course of study:
- Depth study – Anglo-Saxon and Norman England (Topic 1)
- Thematic and site study – Crime and Punishment, Whitechapel (Topic 2)
- Modern – Weimar and Nazi Germany (Topic 3)
- Period study – Superpower relations (Topic 4)
The aims and objectives of this qualification are to enable students to:
- develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in local, British, and wider world history; and of the wide diversity of human experience
- engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers
- develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context
- develop an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them
- organise and communicate their historical knowledge and understanding in different ways and reach substantiated conclusions.
Students will be assessed on the following assessment objectives
AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the periods studied.
AO2 Explain and analyse historical events and periods studied using secondorder1 historical concepts
AO3 Analyse, evaluate and use sources (contemporary to the period) to make substantiated judgements, in the context of historical events studied.
AO4 Analyse, evaluate and make substantiated judgements about interpretations (including how and why interpretations may differ) in the context of historical events studied.
Year 10 Topics
British depth study – Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060 – 1088.
Period study – Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941 – 1991.
Period Study – Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941 – 1991.
Thematic study – Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000 – present day.
Year 11 Topics
Thematic study – Crime and Punishment in Britain c1000 – present day.
Modern depth study – Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918 – 1939
Modern depth study – Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918 – 1939.
Revision and re-teach of exam content and exam skills.
A Level Curriculum Map
A Level Overview
The Tudor period provides students with an opportunity to explore the origins of modern Britain’s political, religious and administrative systems. It was during this period that English government began to transform from a Medieval personal monarchy to a state that had characteristics recognisable in modern day. This, therefore, allows students to understand the development of their modern-day democracy. This unit also explores the role of religion in forming British identity.
Democracy and Nazism provides an opportunity for students to understand and explore the fragility of democracy and free speech. It gives students a modern perception on a westernised government maintaining dictatorship as well as showing them the tell-tale signs of authoritarian views: hate speech, scapegoating, propaganda and the use of terror. These are many problems faced in governments and democracies today, especially with the advancement of globalisation. Within our own institutions students realise how important it is to uphold the democratic systems already in place such as law, the judicial system, the police and the educational system in order to have a humane society.
Year 12 Topics
Topic: Reform and Challenge, Britain c1851 – 1886
- The political system: parliament and the workings of mid-nineteenth century democracy.
- Political developments under Gladstone and Disraeli.
- Economic developments: Agriculture, trade and industry and economic ideologies.
- Society, social change and social policies.
- The condition of Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations: land agitation and the growth of Home Rule.
Topic: The Establishment and early years of Weimar, 1918 – 1928
- The impact of the First World War and the establishment of the Weimar constitution.
- The peace settlement and attitudes towards German government.
- Economic and social issues such as hyperinflation.
- Political instability and extremism: uprisings on the left and right.
- Economics developments: The Dawes Plan and the Young Plan.
- Social developments: Living standards and lifestyles.
- Political developments and the workings of democracy.
- Germany’s international position.
Topic: Challenges to the status-quo, Britain c1886 – 1914
- Political developments: Conservative dominance and problems in the Liberal party.
- Early development of the Labour Party.
- The ideology of New Liberalism.
- Economic developments: Problems in British industry and agriculture.
- The development of trade unionism.
- Social change: The issue of female emancipation, growth of the urban population and the introduction of welfarm reforms.
- The Home Rule movement and opposition to the Home Rule bills.
Topic: The collapse of democracy, Germany 1928 – 1924
- The economic, social and political impact of the Great Depression.
- The appeal of Nazism and Communism.
- ‘Backstairs intrigue’ (Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor).
- Nazi consolidation of power.
Topic: The Great War and its impact, Britain 1914 – 1924
- Social change: Female emancipation, growth of the urban population and the introduction of welfare reforms.
- The Home Rule movement and opposition to the Home Rule bills.
- The impact of war on British parties and politics: Coalition government, the decline of the Liberals and the influence of Labour.
Topic: The collapse of democracy, Germany 1928 – 1933
- Nazi consolidation of power.
- Political developments after 1933.
- Introduction of the coursework title and resources for research.
- Use of historical interpretations and primary sources. How these can be intergrated into coursework.
Year 13 Topics
Topic: The Great War and its impact, 1924 – 1939
- Political developments in the interwar period: Electoral reform, the abdication crisis and the development of radical politcial movements.
- Economic developments: The role of DORA, the General Strike and the Great Depression.
- Social developments: The changing role of women, condition of the working classes and the growth of the media.
- Legislation and reforms in housing, education and welfare.
- The Easter Rising, Anglo-Irish War, the Anglo-Irish Treaty and divided Ireland.
Topic: The Nazi Dictatorship, 1933 – 1939
- The Nazi ‘Terror State’: The Police, SS, Gestapo and the courts.
- Economic policies and economic recovery.
- Nazi social policies: Young people, women, workers and churches.
Topic: Transformation and Change, Britain 1939 – 1964
- The impact of the Second World War on British politics.
- Political developments up to 1964: Conservative dominance after 1951, political consensus and divisions within the Labour Party.
- Economic developments: Post war boom, balance of payments ossies, ‘stop-go’ policies and new technologies.
- Social changes and the development of social policy: The Beveridge Report, creation of the Welfare State, changing position of women and youth, immigration and racial tensions.
Topic: The Racial State, Germany 1933 – 1941
- Nazi racial ideology, policies towards the mentally ill, homosexuals, the Roma and Sinti.
- Policies and actions towards the Jews: Boycott of Jewish shops and the Nurembery Laws.
- Treatment of Jews in the early years of the war.
- Rationing, propaganda and morale during the war.
- The wartime economy, impact of bombing and mobilisation of the labour force.
Topic: Transformation and Change, Britain 1939 – 1964
- North/south friction in Ireland and the beginnings of the civil right movement.
- Revision of content and exam skills.
Topic: The impact of war, Germany 1939-1945
- Policies towards the Jews during wartime, the Wannsee conference and the Final Solution.
- Opposition and resistance in wartime.