History

Head of Department: Mrs S Madden smadden@prsbucks.com

Our goal as a department is to foster a love of History and a curiosity about the past. We are passionate about our subject and aim to make rigorous academic history accessible to all. We strive to embed historical scholarship in our curriculum for all years and to explore a variety of histories from across the globe to reflect the diversity of our students. Our lessons include a wide range of activities and topics to inspire our young historians!

The History Curriculum Map below describes the journey our students take from Year 7 to Year 13.

KS3

Students study British and World History to the present day.

Our Year 7 curriculum includes migrants to Britain pre-1066, the Norman Conquest of England, the Middle Ages, Medieval Islam, and Medieval African Kingdoms.

Our Year 8 curriculum includes the Tudor Church, the English Civil War, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Industrial Revolution, the Mughal Empire, eighteenth century Revolutions, the growth of the British Empire.

Our Year 9 curriculum includes World War One, twentieth century dictatorships, World War Two, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, the Cold War, twentieth century protest and decolonisation.

KS4

At GCSE students follow the Edexcel syllabus.

Students will study four distinct topics and will sit three separate exams in the summer of Year Eleven. The four topics studied are:

Medicine through time, c1200 - present
Early Elizabethan England, 1558-1588
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-1939
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991

Our studies are complemented by a visit to the Imperial War Museum.

KS5

At A Level students follow the Edexcel syllabus.

Students sit three exams in the summer of Year 13 and will also complete one piece of coursework. The topics covered are:

Britain, 1625-1701: conflict, revolution and settlement
Russia in Revolution, 1894-1924
Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA, 1850-2009
The European Witchcraze, 1500-1700

Our studies are complemented by a visit to the Parliament, the Bank of England and Buckinghamshire Archives.

Learning Resources - Click to Expand

The following websites may be of use:

KS3

KS4

www.bbc.co.uk/history
http://spartacus-educational.com/(a very useful online History encyclopaedia)
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/(Elizabethan England, Germany and the Cold War topics)
http://www.johndclare.net/(for Germany and the Cold War topics)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3HJbI3WeBsGoV-Pp_Wt4mA - Miss Madden's Awesome History Channel.