History: Key Stage 3 and 4

History Department Overview

Developing critical thinkers who understand the world today through their study of society, politics, economics, and culture in the past.

The History department at Spalding Grammar Schools aims to develop critical thinkers who understand the world around them through the study of the past. We aim to deliver a curriculum that is relevant to our students and inspires and challenges them to question, research, investigate, make comparisons between periods, analyse and draw conclusions about the past. Progression in terms of both content and skills equips students in preparation for further study of the subject or with the highly transferrable skills in communication, empathy, organisation, presentation, inference, moral and ethical dilemmas, analysis and evaluation needed in the world of work.

Key Stage 3

The curriculum at Key Stage Three is designed to give students a broad basis of British History from medieval times to the present. It is intended that students will develop an understanding of the key features of medieval, early modern and modern Britain with an increased focus on Britain’s place in the world from Year 8 and a greater focus on international relations in Year 9. We consider concepts like power and control, diversity, industrialisation, civil rights and freedoms. We engage students through an enquiry-based approach which allows students to investigate challenging questions about the past encouraging students to engage with a range of source material from the past and scholarly debate on issues of current interest between historians. Enrichment opportunities further increase enthusiasm for the study of History (the history of warfare) through a trip to IWM Duxford in Year 8 and the opportunity to participate in a World War I battlefields tour in Year 9.

Key Stage 4

GCSE History Specification – Edexcel

Units taught at GCSE include the study of Warfare Through Time (1250-present), a unit made by popular choice from the students themselves and which is supported by a visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds where students experience some Civil War re-enactments and training. We also study Early Elizabethan England, 1558-1588, a topic of local relevance to us as a school granted our charter by the Queen in 1588. Weimar and Nazi Germany is studied in Year 11, popular amongst our students from their Key Stage Three study but also highly relevant in the comparison between democracy and dictatorship, how dictatorships can develop, the role of the economy within this, the importance of propaganda and terror and the consideration of how far people become indoctrinated within the regime. Finally, Superpower Relations and the Cold War is taught as part of Year nine study, a decision in part enforced by the volume of content at GCSE but one that compliments the focus on international relations within our Year 9 curriculum.