History
At Key Stage 3 we complete different enquiries throughout each year, engaging students to answer big questions to develop their historical knowledge and skills. Our curriculum is outlined for each year below.
Year 7
- How accurate was Simon Schama’s interpretation of the Battle of Hastings?
- What was it like to live in Medieval England, 1066-1450?
- How did Medieval people respond to the Black Death?
- What was happening in the Islamic World?
- What changed in the Reformation?
- Which was the greatest invention pre 1500?
Year 8
- Migration: Romans to the Windrush. What factors have caused people to come to Britain? What have attitudes towards migrants been in Britain?
- What was the impact of the transatlantic slave trade at the time?
- We need to talk about the British Empire.
- How and why has democracy changed in Britain 1200 – 1928?
Year 9
- Which historian do you most disagree with about the causes of the First World War?
- Who do we remember in World War One?
- What was it like to live in Nazi Germany?
- How and why was the Holocaust possible?
- Was the 1960’s a decade of revolution?
GCSE History – Upper School
Following on from KS3 History, GCSE will continue to develop students’ abilities to think critically, asking why and how the world around us has changed. They will develop many skills including, analysis, communication, problem solving and writing which are transferable skills essential in many careers. Students would be prepared with a foundation for many different career paths including; law, politics, business, journalism, archaeology and tourism, but really the list in endless as the skills are so transferrable.
In GCSE History at BMA we follow the Edexcel Specification. The course is assessed in Year 11 with 3 different exam papers and we study four different topics. Studying GCSE History is an opportunity to learn more about how past events and people have influenced the world around us today.
We study four topics throughout the course. In Year 10 we study Paper 1 and Early Elizabethan England. Paper 1 is our thematic study where students learn about Crime and Punishment in Britain and how it has changed and developed from the year 1000 up to present day, including a Historical environment study of Whitechapel. Paper 2 is our period and British Depth Study paper. The British Depth Study is on Early Elizabeth England, where students learn about the threats and challenges Elizabeth I faced when she became queen and what it was like to live in Elizabethan England. In Year 11 students complete Paper 2 and the Period study which is on Superpower Relations between the USA and the USSR and the impact the events of the Cold War had on the world. Finally Paper 3 focuses on the USA 1954-75, the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War.
