History

The Key Stage 3 curriculum covers a combination of British, European and world history and provides a varied approach to studying the past, examining topics both thematically and in depth. In Years 7 and 8, students study the themes of migration and protest; this helps them identify patterns or note key turning points in history. Students will focus on several key topics in depth over the course of the year and identify and explain how these case studies relate to the broader overarching theme. In Year 9, students study twentieth century European history as well as medical developments in the Ancient World.

YEAR 7 – Migration, War and Conquest, AD 400-2000

In their first year at JRCS, students study the theme of migration, war and conquest into and out of Britain from 500 BC to the present day Using a series of case studies, students will seek to explore the reasons for migration, the experience of migrants newly arrived to British shores, the conquests that have shaped modern Britain and the world and the impact this all had upon British society.

1. Migration and settlement before and after the Norman Conquest (AD400-1100)
2. The Crusades: the Christian conquest (AD 1096-1271)
3. Migration during the Renaissance (c. AD 1250-1600
4. How did the British East India Company conquer the Indian Subcontinent? (AD 1600-1858)
5. Migration to the UK in the era of the two world wars (AD 1900-1960)
6. How has migration changed modern Britain? (AD 1960-current)

YEAR 8 – Protest through time, AD 1100-1945

In Year 8, students study the theme of protest across time. Students will investigate the reasons for the different protests they study, the nature of the protest and consequences of these protests.

1. Magna Carta and its legacy, AD 1100-1297
2. The Black Death and the Peasants Revolt, AD 1348-1381
3. The Gunpowder Plot, AD 1603-1605
4. The English Civil War: Origins, Conflict and Consequences, AD 1642-1701
5. The Atlantic Slave Trade and its Abolition, AD 1640-1837
6. Civil Rights in the USA, AD 1861-1965
7. The Long History of Anti-Semitism in Europe, AD 63-1945
8. Rebellions and Resistance during the Holocaust, AD 1939-1945

YEAR 9 – ‘A Century of Extremes’, AD 1900-2000

Year 9 aims to provide students with a more focused understanding of modern history. Eric Hobsbawm’s seminal series of books ended with his account of the twentieth century – A Century of Extremes. Inspired by this, the department have prepared a curriculum which enables students to develop a firm grasp of the history of ‘yesterday’. By the end of the year they will have a deeper understanding of the processes that produced the globalised world we live in today, and a critical and reflective understanding of the many debates that surround it.

1. Medicine and trench life during the First World War, 1914-18
2. The Russian Revolutions, 1905-1919
3. The Soviet Union in the era of Stalin
4. 20^th Century Warfare: WW2, Korea and Vietnam

RIGHT TO WRITE:

• Year 7– Migration to Britain 1500-1900
• Year 8– Civil Rights in the USA
• Year 9– The Russian Revolutions

HOMEWORK

At Key Stage 3 it is the intention that students will be set two pieces of homework within a half-term period. It is usual that at least one of these pieces of homework is designed to help prepare students for an upcoming formal assessment. Work will be checked and if the homework contributes to an assessment, written feedback will be provided.

JRCS History Projects Website

We are delighted to share this new website designed to provide students with extensive independent study activities. You will find numerous guided projects, links to excellent history websites and recommended documentaries.

https://sites.google.com/view/jrcs-history-projects

History is not just concerned with the past; only through understanding what has gone before can we appreciate the world around us today. The GCSE Edexcel History course at JRCS covers a combination of British and world history and provides a varied approach to studying history, examining topics in both breadth and depth.

As well as learning about many varied and interesting aspects of the past you will also develop many important skills vital to higher education and the workplace. These include:

• Building structured arguments using order and logic
• Using specific detailed evidence to support points
• Analysis of historical evidence such as political cartoons and the work of historians
• Debating
• Thinking skills such as problem solving and reasoning
• Communication (written and verbal)

There are five main topics that make up the course which are assessed across three exam papers. All examinations will be taken in the summer of Year 11. Please note, there is no coursework or controlled assessment element to GCSE history.

PAPER 1: THEMATIC STUDY AND HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT (1 HOUR AND 15 MINUTES) 30%

Medicine in Britain c1250 – present day

and

The British sector of the Western Front during WWI, 1914-18: injuries, treatment and the trenches.

In this section of the course, students will learn how attitudes towards disease, medicine and health have changed over time and the key individuals and factors that have led to progress. Students will investigate a variety of topics from across the 800 year period including the Black Death, the work of Florence Nightingale, the provision of medical care during WWI and the development of penicillin.

PAPER 2: PERIOD STUDY AND BRITISH DEPTH STUDY (1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES) 40%

Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91

This period study on the Cold War analyses the development of the tension between the Soviet Union and the West, and key political crises like the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The course follows topic until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the communist bloc in 1991.

Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060-88

The British depth study will analyse the nature and impact of the Norman invasion and conquest of England during the early Middle Ages as well as investigating the legacy of William I. The Battle of Hastings, castle construction, the uprisings against Norman rule and the importance of the feudal system and the Church are all topics students will explore in this unit.

PAPER 3: MODERN DEPTH STUDY (1 HOUR AND 20 MINUTES) 30%

Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39

In this source based paper students will study the turbulent social, economic and political changes that swept over Germany from 1918 to 1939, including the establishment of a new Republic and the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The final stages of this unit will enable students to investigate the key events that helped shaped the formation of the Third Reich and analyse the dramatic changes ordinary Germans witnessed in the years prior to the war.

HOMEWORK

At Key Stage 4 it is the intention that students will be set a piece of homework once a fortnight. It is usual that at least one of these pieces of homework is designed to help prepare students for an upcoming formal end of unit assessment which approximately takes place every six weeks. Key Stage 4 students are also expected to carry out their own independent research prior to certain lessons in order to help prepare them for the forthcoming topic in a process known as ‘flip-learning’. Work will be checked by the class teacher and if the homework is a practice examination question, written feedback will be provided.

Department Websites

JRCS History Projects Website

We are delighted to share this new website designed to provide students with extensive independent study activities. You will find numerous guided projects, links to excellent history websites and recommended documentaries.

https://sites.google.com/view/jrcs-history-projects

Super-curricular Study

Obtaining a place at a top university can be difficult with so much competition. Top universities are now more interested in your super-curricular activities rather than just extra-curricular. Super-curricular is the idea of coming fully immersed in the subject you want to study. This could include reading something new, visiting a place relevant to that subject, listening to a podcast or subscribing to a relevant magazine. The JRCS History super-curricular page provides this for anyone wanting to study history at university either soon or in the near future. So go ahead and delve in and find an area of history you have never really encountered before and develop your super-curricular portfolio.

Click here to head to the super-curricular page.

Y9 EXTENDED HOMEWORK PROJECT

Over the next few weeks you will be completing your extended homework on life in the trenches. Each fortnight you will submit a completed part of your activity booklet and then we will mark it and return to you.

At the core of our approach to marking at JRCS is task marking.

In non-practical subjects one substantial piece of work will be task marked at least once every eight hours of teaching. Students will respond to the tasks and they will be checked by staff. In between that time students’ work may be peer or self-assessed or briefly checked by staff.

It is likely the same piece of work will be assessed for literacy. Staff will mark work using the following marking code: 

LEVELLING AND ASSESSMENT

KS3

To develop a growth mindset and reflect ‘life after levels’ work in KS3 books will not usually be levelled; assessment will be formative and highlight how students can improve. Students will record areas of strength and development on their ‘reflection sheets’ which will be at the front or back of the book. At the end of each term a level is reported for students in each subject, which reflects all their work over that term. These are found on students’ pale yellow progress cards, which are stuck into their planners. These cards show students whether they are in line to meet their end of key stage target. Targets are:

• Foundation
• Emerging
• Developing
• Secure
• Excelling

KS4

KS4 practice exam questions and mock exams are likely to be graded using the 1-9 GCSE grading system. This work will be contained in best work folders which allow students to collate assessments written on paper or in formal exam papers. Students will record grades and areas of strength and development in their ‘reflection sheets’ which will be at the front of the folder. All students receive an attainment and predicted grade at the end of each term. These are found on their pale yellow progress cards, which are stuck into their planners. These cards show students whether they are in line to meet their end of key stage target.

KS5

At KS5 students take a series of VIMAs (Sixth Form (VI) Milestone Assessments) during their course. Students receive developmental comments to help them improve their work. Each VIMA result includes four parts: the grade for that assessment, a comparison of the grade with their expected progress grade (EPG), a Learning Capability mark and a prediction of their end of year grade (PEG). The outcomes of these assessments and other graded work will be in student folders. They are also sent home to parents. A summary of VIMA marks and the students’ expected progress grade is also recorded in their planner.