History

History fires pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

Key Stage 3

Year 7

Students begin their study with an enquiry into the development of Scarborough and gain a real appreciation of how history helps us see why things have happened. We aim to give students a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Through a combination of in depth and overview studies we use a range of enquiry questions to investigate the development of Church, state and society in Britain and the wider world from the Middle Ages to the 20^th Century.

Year 8

In Year 8 we continue the theme of using overview and in depth enquires to investigate political power, warfare and its impact on society throughout 20^th Century. Students will assess how warfare changed during the 20^th Century and some of the common factors that helped to cause conflict. They will also gain an understanding of the reasons for why conflict has changed over time. For example students identify and explain the main turning points in the Civil Rights movement from 1950-1963 and conclude their study with an enquiry into terrorism. They begin to understand how to apply the definition of terrorism to different events and whether or not they can be called acts of terrorism.

Key Stage 4

The History Department offers the Edexcel GCSE course where students 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.

The Paper 1 option is divided into two topics: a thematic study and a linked study of a historic environment. Students learn how key features in the development of crime and punishment were linked with the key features of society in Britain in the periods studied.

The paper 2 option is divided into one British depth study and one period study. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by Elizabeth I throughout her reign and why this was an age of ‘voyage and discovery.’

The period study provides students with the opportunity to study Superpower Relations 1941-1991 in an investigation into the key events of the Cold War including the Berlin blockade, Hungary 1956, the building of the Berlin Wall,  the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the continuation of the arms and space race.  We conclude this period with a study of the USSR invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the fall of the Soviet Union. The paper 3 option requires students to study one modern depth study into Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1939. Students analyse the impact of the First World War and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar constitution. Here students are given the opportunity to identify and interpret different reasons for why Hitler came to power in 1933. Students will also assess the social, economic, political, cultural and military aspects of life under Nazi rule.

Key Stage 4 Courses Offered

History

Edexcel

Extra-Curricular Activities

The history department offers a joint humanities annual visit for Year 8 students to the Battlefields of World War One and Arnhem.  For KS4 we currently offer a visit to London to compliment student’s enquiry into Crime and Punishment, Whitechapel and Early Elizabethan England. We have also successfully led KS4 trips to Berlin in the past and will continue to do this in the future.