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History

All students take History in Years 7-9.  In Years 10 and 11 the subject is studied by those who have chosen it as a GCSE option.  In the Sixth Form it is an ‘A’ level option.

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We are all heirs of the past and require both a knowledge and an understanding of History if we are to explain adequately the present.  The study of History enables students to become enquiring, critical, imaginative, responsive to stimuli, aware of the process of change and willing to accept it.  They will also learn to write for themselves, marshal evidence and present a coherent argument.   

Various visits and visitors to the school are organised, including a visit to the Napoleonic Forts at Berry Head (Year 8), and World War One battlefields in France and Belgium (Year 9).  A Second World War ‘Veterans Day’ is arranged for Year 9 students.  Year 7 students have the opportunity to visit Totnes Castle on a joint venture with the Geography Department.  Sixth form trips have included two visits, to Russia and Berlin. 
 

Within National Curriculum History we study the following options: 

In Year 7 we study two units:

  •  Term 1-2  Medieval Britain 1066 to 1500
  • Term 2-3  The relationship between East and West: Europe and Islam 600AD – 1600  
     

In Year 8 we study three units:

  • Term 1-2  Tudor and Stuart Britain
  • Term 2-3   Britain 1750 – 1900 including an in depth study on the rise and fall of the British Empire 
     

In Year 9 we will study two units: 

  • Terms 1, 2 and 3 The Twentieth Century World from the causes of the First World War to the Cold War.
  • Thematic study on the experience of war for different people. 

GCSE

The department has adopted the Schools History Project Syllabus at GCSE.  Students are encouraged to develop skills in judging the reliability of evidence; what brings about change or induces continuity in history; and other related matters.   

A final grade is awarded on the basis of both coursework and a written examination consisting of three papers.  Students will sit two public examinations in the summer term of Year 10 on Medicine, accounting for 50% of their GCSE grade.  In year 11 they will complete the controlled assignment (essay task written under examination conditions) and a further examination paper in June on Germany 1918-1945, both sections also worth 50% of their GCSE grade.    
 

During the course we study the following units:

History of Medicine – (Study Through Time) – this investigates change and development in History through the history of Medicine.   

Nazi Germany – (Study in Depth) – ‘in depth’ study of this particular period through a wide variety of contemporary sources.  

Policing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Britain and the case of Jack the Ripper OR Protest in the USA 1950-70 with a focus on Black civil rights, JFK the Vietnam protests.  This is the controlled assignment.   
 

A Level

For AS level, students study two units: For A2 the students study two units:

  1. Germany 1945 -1991   1. The Tudors 1536 – 1588

Italy and Mussolini 1896 – 1943     

  1. The reign of Henry VIII 1509 – 1540 2. Coursework on Medicine in the Twentieth century.

All units are assessed by single paper examinations in June.  These can be retaken in January. The Tudor Units involve ‘document work’ by which candidates are required to attempt questions based on Tudor sources and extracts from modern historians.  They must utilise their skills of interpretation and evaluation, and essay writing is required in all three Units.  

June 2010