Headteacher - Mr Andy English
Our Lady's Catholic High School 6-16 Amhurst Park London N16 5AFAt Key Stage 3, students learn about the history of the UK from its earliest times to the present day and how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. There is also a study of past non-European societies, including Africa. Students understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses. Students learn the importance of methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
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How has water and health changed through time? |
Our first unit in year 7 explores how clean, healthy and hygienic life has been for people. We track changes from Iron Age Britain from 700BC to the Industrial period of the 1800s. This overview unit focuses on exploring the History Skill of change, and the language we use to describe change through time. |
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How accurate is it to describe the Tudor period as a ‘religious rollercoaster’? |
This unit focuses on Tudor England, and the problem of religion. We explore the ways each Tudor monarch changed religion. The history skill we focus on is change, evaluating how much religion changed in this period.
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Why was Hugh Trevor Roper wrong about pre-colonial African History? |
Our third unit explores Africa in the 1500s - the same period as the Tudors in England. We explore a range of sources to challenge the view of High Trevor Roper, learning about the history of Benin The History Skill we will focus on is exploring views, or interpretations, of the past. We will explore this by looking at a range of sources. |
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Why do sources give us such different ideas about the slave trade? |
This unit focuses on the experiences of enslaved people during the 1700s and 1800s. We explore the History Skill of sources, learning to evaluate them for reliability and usefulness.
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How should the story of abolition be told? |
Our final unit for year 7 investigates the reasons why slavery was abolished in Britain in the 1800s focusing on the roles of different individuals. This topic introduces students to historical debate, developing their skills to evaluate interpretations. |
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How grim was the industrial revolution? |
The first unit of year 8 explores a significant part of British history - the industrial revolution from 1750-1900. It explores how people's lives were affected, and evaluates whether the good things outweigh the bad things. Within this, we also consider local history. We will focus our history skills on weighing up evidence. |
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How has conflict changed over time? |
Our second unit investigates key battles and wars since 1066, and how the style of warfare has changed through this time. We focus our history skills on evaluating the extent of change. |
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What can sources tell us about the First World War? |
Our third unit looks at the First World War in more depth. We study the causes, events and outcome of the war, and then explore a range of sources that tell us about the experience of war in more detail. Our history skill focus is on analysing the usefulness of sources. |
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Why did working class men and women get the vote? |
This unit starts with an investigation of protest through time, with an explicit focus on examining how working class men were finally given the right to vote in 1867. We then consider the work of the Suffragettes in campaigning for the right to vote. The history skill focus is on evaluating the importance of factors to explain why women were able to get the vote. |
Year 9
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How was the British Empire justified? |
Our first unit of year 9 examines the history of migration and the British Empire through time. We consider the ways that the Empire was justified, and look at different experiences of the Empire. Our history skills focus on interpretations, and what the debates about the Empire are, and why these debates exist. |
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Why did people vote for Hitler & what was the result? |
Our second unit looks at the experience of Germans after the First World War, and examines the reasons why they would support the rule of Adolf Hitler. We then examine what Hitler did once in power, including a look at the Second World War. The history skill is focused on causation - the reasons why people voted for Hitler. |
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How do we tell the story of the Holocaust? |
Continuing our exploration of the Second World War, we then look in more depth at the Holocaust. We examine what happened, and also who was involved in it, with a consideration about who might be to blame. Our history skills focus on interpretations, and who might be to blame for the Holocaust. |
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How has medicine changed through time? |
We end Year 9 by introducing the first GCSE unit - focused on the history of medicine. We look at the medieval and early modern periods, and consider how much changed and how much stayed the same. Our history skills focus is on change over time. |
| Qualification Gained | GCSE |
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| Board | Eduqas |
| Potential Tiers of Entry | One Common Tier |
The course covers four distinct historical periods and aims to develop a wide range of historical study skills:
A thematic study on the Changes in Health and Medicine in Britain, c500 to the present day.
This looks at the changing causes and treatments for illness through time. It looks at significant developments such as anaesthetic and the use of penicillin, as well as studying key individuals such as John Snow and Florence Nightingale, and their role in helping to improve medicine and health. The exam focuses on exploring how much change and development there has been in this time period.
A non-British study about Germany in Transition, 1919 – 1939
This looks at how Germany was ruled after the First World War, how and why the Nazis took power and how popular they were. The exam includes a focus on how these events have been interpreted in different ways.
A depth study about The Elizabethan Age, 1558-1603
This looks at England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, including the problems of religion, threats to her life from Catholics, and entertainment, including the impact of Shakespeare. The exam will focus on explaining and evaluating Elizabethan England.
A period study about The Development of the USA 1929 – 2000
This topic has three key areas. The first focuses on the experience of black Americans and their fight for civil rights, including Martin Luther King. The second area focuses on changes in society and popular culture, including the changing role of women, youth, and the influence of music, TV and technology. The final area investigates key political actions, and how Presidents have shaped America, including their foreign policy such as Vietnam and the Cold War.
In Year 10, students will start with a focus on health and medicine. This will link into their studies from KS3, and build on knowledge of medieval England, and changes during the Industrial Revolution. The focus will be on developing the skills required to learn core content, as well as an introduction to the exam skills tested in this unit, such as evaluating change. The intended time frame for this unit is 3 half terms, and will be assessed in school at the end of the unit. The second topic studied for the final 3 half terms of year 10 will be Germany. The exam skills will focus on sources and interpretations, as well as an ongoing focus on factual retention. Both of these units will be assessed in mock exams at the end of the year.
In year 11, students will begin with a focus on Elizabeth Tudor, developing exam skills in interpretations and source skills. These skills are a progression from those developed in the year 10 Germany unit, and regular retrieval will ensure the year 10 content is not forgotten. The final unit of study will be the USA, with a focus on factual recall and exam questions which are more related to the idea of change and continuity. Both of these units will be taught while continuing recall of their year 10 topics. there will be an opportunity to complete full mock exams in the Spring term before the final Summer assessments.
Each of the four units will be officially assessed by exam at the end of year 11.
These four exams will all be equally weighted, 25% each, and last between 45 mins and 1 hr 15 mins.
Choose history if you:
Want to develop a range of key transferable skills that employers in a range of occupations will value
Have a genuine interest in history, and the topics we are studying
Desire to ask questions
Have a curiosity about the world around you
Have an interest in what motivates people
Enjoy researching and finding out about things
Are confident with reading and retrieving key information
Are confident with writing at length
Have the ability to argue and respond to other points of view
Have the ability to organise your thoughts
| Subject Leader | Ms J Mitra |