5 Ways to support your child

• Help your child to keep their folders organised.
• Encourage your child to have confidence in making their own judgments about the past.
• Encourage your child to debate key issues and, when they do, show balanced arguments.
• Ask your child to question where they get their evidence from and decide whether they think it should be trusted or not.
• Contact your child’s History teacher if you have any concerns about any aspect of their study. Their teacher will respond promptly and constructively.

Curriculum

At Key Stage 4, students are encouraged to be independent learners who lead themselves to achieve the very highest standards in their chosen subject. We follow the OCR exam board and stud the School’s History Project A. This programme is divided into three main components:

Paper 1 (A951): A test of knowledge and Understanding of Medicine Through Time and The American West (45% of total GCSE grade)

Paper 2 (A952): A test of the student’s ability to analyse sources of evidence about Public Health Through Time

Controlled Assessment (A953): A 2000 word essay about the History of terrorism in northern Ireland.

The curriculum at Key Stage 4 is divided into three main areas:

• Medicine and Public Health Through Time

Ancient Civilizations (Egypt, Greece and Rome)

The Middle Ages

The Renaissance

The Battle Against Infectious Disease

Surgery Through Time

19^th and 20^th Century Public Health

• The American West

The Beliefs and Practices of Native Americans

Why did People Settle and Stay in the West of the USA?

The Growth of the Cattle Industry in the USA

War and Conflict between the USA and Native Americans

• Irish Studies

In this topic, students study the development of terrorism in Ireland. This leads to the development of understanding about a range of topics in Irish History, some of which include:

The Tudor Plantations

Oliver Cromwell

The Hunger Strikes

The Troubles (1969-1998)

The Good Friday Agreement

Homework overview

Students complete homework in History on a weekly basis. This usually takes the form of GCSE practice questions and independent research into key topics, which is then used to support learning in lessons. The vocational nature of studying History at GCSE means that there is a fluid transition between classwork and homework. Classwork directly influences and informs homework and visa-versa.