Subjects / History
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 Swadelands students study a wide range of topics:
Year 7 History
- The Norman Conquest
- Church and the State (exploring the Tudor Monarchy and the changing religion of this period)
- The Changing Nation – The Making of the United Kingdom
- Health and Hazards – Students will investigate the working and living conditions during the 19th Century
- Project Based Learning. The key theme of this project will be China. A number of subjects will be exploring the country to create cross curricular links)
- Medicine and Health through the Ages – the chronological understanding of health care through the ages
Year 8 History
- The British Empire and the Slave Trade
- Victorian Crime and Justice. Key investigation “Were the police to blame for not capturing Jack the ripper?”
- Power and Conflict. Students will be exploring the First World War and conditions of soldiers.
- Nazi Germany. Students will be assessing the changes Hitler made to society in Germany
- The Home Front. “How did the lives of British civilians change during the Second World War?”
- Project Based Learning – The role of the Individual. Students will explore four key individuals and events in the Second World War and assess their importance and role.
Students are assessed summatively once a term but formally every lesson. These assessments will reflect knowledge and understanding connecting to key historical skills:
- Chronological Understanding
- Change and Continuity
- Cause and Consequence
- Interpretation
- Significance
- Cultural, ethnic and religious diversity
The level each student obtains is in line with National Curriculum standards.
Homework
Homework for KS3 students is set once a fortnight. The homework activities promote independent research and the consolidation of knowledge gathered in the classroom. All homework activities can be found on the portal system for students along with deadlines.
Trips
The History Department is heavily involved in Educational visits. Throughout an academic year we try to visit the Imperial War Museum, Natural History Museum and various historical sites in both Sussex and Kent. The trips will take place on curriculum days on during activities week in the summer term.
Key Stage 4 Programme of Study (Year 9, 10 & 11)
At Key Stage 4 our students follow the Edexcel Examining Board-Specification History B Schools History Project (Crime and Punishment)
Students will study 4 units each worth 25%. Three units are modular exams that will take place each January and June over two years. Below is a brief break down of each module.
Unit 1 – Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment from the Roman Period through to the 21st Century
Here students explore:
- Common crimes – throughout time
- Common punishments –linking different periods
- Different types of crimes and punishment
- Tudor and Stuart England – introduction of torturing instruments
- Witchcraft-hunts and punishments
- Smugglers – ‘Criminals or Popular Heroes
- Industrial Britain and Crime – was violent crime increasing in London in the 19th Century?
- Introduction of a police force and prisons
- Changing patterns of crime
- Why was capital punishment abolished?
- New Crimes – new punishments
To name a few of the areas studied:
Unit 2 – Life in Nazi Germany
- Germany’s punishment at the end of the First world War – Treaty of Versailles
- The success of the Weimar Republic 1924-29
- The rise of the Nazi Party (SA & SS)
- 1933 – Hitler achieves power – students will explore the changes made to German society
- Nazi Education and the Hitler Youth
- The role of women
- Work and the economy
- Anti-Semitism – Nazi propaganda
- The role of death camps.
Unit 3 – Protest, Law and Order in the 20th century.
Students will explore 4 case studies of protest in British History:
- Suffragettes 1903-14
- The General Strike 1926
- The Miner Strike 1984
- The Poll Tax protest 1990
Unit 4 – Controlled Assessment
CA10: The Impact of War on Britain 1914-1950
Skills – Enquiry based questions develop extended writing and source interpretation where students explore the usefulness of representations given by the exam board.
Home Front 1914-1918
- Recruitment Campaigns – White Feather & Pals Battalions
- Propaganda
- Conscription
- Conscientious Objectors
- DORA – Defence of the Realm Acts
- Key Individuals – Lord Kitchener, Haig & Lloyd George
- Women workers
- Rationing
- Treaty of Versailles
- How lives in Britain changed during the war
Home Front 1939-1945
- Air Raid Shelter – Morrison & Anderson Shelters
- Gas masks
- Blackouts
- Rationing
- Conscription
- Propaganda
- Battle of Britain
- Spirit of the Blitz
- DORA – Observation of Society
- How lives in Britain changed during the Second World War
Assessment
Students are assessed summatively once a term but formally every lesson. The assessments are connected to the units being studied. Key skills are further developed at KS4:
Change and Continuity – to be able to reflect the reasons for events occurring
Cause and Consequence – to be able to explain or describe the causes of why an event occurred. To further expand upon the consequences of the events.
Interpretation – to be able obtain knowledge from a source to use as evidence in a structured answer.
Significance – to be able to provide a reason why an event in the past is important and to be able to provide reasons why?
Justification – to provide opinions that are justified with evidence and reasons.
Homework
Homework for KS4 students is set once a fortnight. The homework activities promote independent research and the consolidation of knowledge gathered in the classroom. All homework activities can be found on the portal system for students along with deadlines.
Trips
The History Department is heavily involved in Educational visits. Trips to Ypres and Berlin are currently being planned for the academic 2010-11 for students to enrich their knowledge and understanding.
