History at key stage 3 offers students the opportunity to discover a wide range of exciting topics including Medieval Europe, the Russian Revolution, Religious conflict and the World Wars. These topics allow students to build on skills of analysis and argument; essential in the modern world. Students will learn how to challenge and scrutinize primary source material in order to ascertain which information they can trust and which needs to be treated with caution. We aim to deliver a broad, diverse curriculum which brings history alive for our students through a variety of different lessons; one day, students could be analyzing sources to figure out why Louis XVI lost his head, the next, they could be reenacting their very own French Revolution in the playground! 

Students follow the Edexcel iGCSE history course whiwh is graded using the 9 – 1 system, with 9 being slightly higher than the traditional A* and 1 being the lowest grade awarded. Grades 9 – 4 are considered ‘pass’ grades. 

This syllabus is an up-to-date, challenging course which aims to: 

• Develop and extend knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in history; and of the wide diversity of human experience
• Engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers
• Develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid claims by using a range of sources – an essential skill in today’s digital world
• Develop an understanding of significance and be able to explain why some historical events are more significant than others
• Organise and communicate in a sophisticated manner, both verbally and in writing

Topics studied: Germany: development of dictatorship, 1918–45, A world divided: superpower relations, 1943–72, Changes in medicine, c1848–c1948, The Vietnam Conflict, 1945–75. 

Again the students follow the Edexcel syllabus; at A Level the grades remain A* –  G. 

During this course, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of four very different topics, offering a broad understanding of history. This course will appeal to students who are interested in world politics, economics and sociology as well. 

The Edexcel course is up-to-date, engaging and relevant to an international audience, developing students’ understanding of the nature of historical studies. This approach focuses on depth, breadth and interpretation of event in history. In the first year, students will study Russia in Revolution; 1881-1917 as part of a depth study. Following this, students will complete an exciting and very current depth study of South Africa; 1948-2014. In the second year of the course students will have the opportunity to do a breadth study in The British Experience of Warfare; 1803-1945, which will explore how warfare has changed from Napoleon to the Second World War. Our final module is Superpower relations; 1943-1990, which explores the geopolitics of the Cold War. Through this, students will develop:  

• Critical thinking skills: develop a critical perspective on an aspect of history 
• Reasoning: construct and evaluate arguments in a piece of extended writing to support a considered judgment about an historical issue or about an interpretation of history
• Source analysis: explain the meaning behind complex historical sources and evaluate their reliability