Curriculum Intent
This course of study allows students to develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in British and wider world history; and of the wide diversity of human experience. Students will also engage in historical enquiry to develop as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers. They will:
- develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context.
- develop an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them.
- organise and communicate their historical knowledge and understanding in different ways and reach substantiated conclusions.
The syllabus followed is Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) in History which consists of three externally examined papers at the end of year 11. This includes:
Paper One – Medicine Through Time, c1250-present
Paper Two – Early Elizabethan England, 1558-1588 & British America, 17134-1783: empire & revolution
Paper Three – Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918 – 1939
The Edexcel specification was chosen because it offers period studies that provide an unfolding narrative within a clear and coherent structure. It allows conceptual, geographical, period and thematic links to be made between across a course of study.
The quality of the specification is assured because Edexcel have designed it to ensure that it is comparable with those taken in high-performing jurisdictions overseas. They consulted key stakeholders on content and assessment, including the Royal Historical Society, the Historical Association, the Schools History Project, teachers, and higher education academics. This means our students are engaging with a world-class curriculum which is future-proof and prepares them to live and think in a rapidly changing world.
GCSE Specification:
A link to the complete Edexcel History specification can be found below:
