History

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The past unlocks the present.

If you love to discover new things, make sense of ideas and events, debate and understand how to make change in the world, then History is for you! We teach you to think, evaluate information, make up your own mind and argue your views. As we navigate a period of unprecedented challenge and opportunity for our global community, these skills, and the understanding of a diverse range of human experience that History also offers, could not be more vital.

WHY TAKE HISTORY?

When we ask our current and past GCSE historians what they enjoy about History, they almost always say the content. Our course takes you on a journey through a thousand years and across the globe, and is brilliantly diverse. If you’re enjoying the Year 9 course, you will love what’s to come! Here’s something to whet your appetite and give you a sense of the amazing range of topics we study: • Germany after WW1 • The Wall Street Crash • The Japanese invasion of Manchuria • The Italian invasion of Abyssinia • Hitler’s takeover of Europe • The division of Germany and the Berlin blockade and Berlin Wall • The Cuban Missile Crisis • The Vietnam War • Communist China • Migration to Britain, c1000 to c2010, including a study of Spitalfields in London • The impact of Empire on Britain – expansion into

America and Asia, the role of slavery in Empire, economic and cultural impacts of Empire in Britain and elsewhere

Also, History develops a whole range of skills that are invaluable in later life. Here are just some of the advantages of studying History: • You will use information effectively - this can help shed light on a particular problem or issue confronting an organisation or individual. You will weigh up conflicting factors carefully before making critical decisions. • You will be analytical and critical when considering information presented to you. • You will understand how and why humans behaved as they did - and may behave in similar circumstances again. This can be vital in relations with the most complex factor in any job - your colleagues! • You will learn the arts of oral debate and expressing a clear personal point of view - invaluable skills at job or university interviews as well as in everyday life. • You will see how studying the people of the past can give you real insight into people alive now. It will help you understand how and why humans behave as they do when confronted with the crises of today.

Unless you become a lighthouse keeper or a hermit, you’ll need to understand other people with all their complexities. Knowledge of people is the greatest asset of all. • You will see how many of the problems and strengths of the world today have their roots in the past: great or mistaken decisions; combinations of developments; conspiracies or complete mess-ups all played their part! • Last but not least, you will enjoy looking at the past!

It’s fun! People in the past were every bit as clever, stupid, interesting and varied in personality as people today.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN TERMS OF WHAT YOU’LL DO IN LESSONS?

History is taught through many ways, for example: • reading and critiquing the work of historians; • sharing your own independent research into aspects of the course which most interest you, in writing, verbally, or in any format you want in our ‘unessays’; • role-plays; • constructing a reasoned argument both in writing and in debates; to grasp; • using a range of multi-media resources. This all means that, by the end of the course, you won’t be repeating the ideas of others; instead you’ll be a true historian with convincing views of your own.

OPTIONS - TWO

HOW ARE YOU ASSESSED? The course is made up of 3 examination papers. The papers cover a mixture of source analysis and recall skills, which require short answers for the most part – they are not traditional essay-based papers. As for the topics we cover, as you’ll have seen above they are interesting, challenging and highly relevant.

WHAT ELSE IS ON OFFER?

We take Year 10 to Berlin at Christmas every year. We also took a group to China jointly with the Geography department in October 2018 and are planning another long-haul trip in the next few years. These are optional, but designed to supplement your studies in an interesting and enjoyable way. The cost will depend on the destination, but Berlin is currently in the region of £550. GCSE students also participate in our History Society known as the History Girls. Every week, a student leads a discussion on a topic which interests them – anything from Ancient Greece to witchcraft to the global youth revolt of 1968. Lively debate and broadening of horizons are guaranteed! WHERE CAN HISTORY TAKE YOU IN THE FUTURE?

Anywhere and everywhere! History gives you the independence and skills you need to self-start in any field. Universities and employers also seek out people with the skills of an historian: Independent thinkers Open-minded Disciplined Good at problem solving Able to pick out the essential from the trivial Studying History is all about this – as we said at the start of this section. We’ll leave the last word to the ‘Which?’ company: ‘Historians are regarded as having had an education that trains their minds to assemble, organise and present facts and opinions and this is a very useful quality in many walks of life and careers…history is an excellent preparation for very many other jobs’. So History really can help you end up wherever you want to be!