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GSO Test

History Programme of Study

Key Stage 3

 

Year 7

Year 8

Autumn Term 1

What was the most significant turning point of the Islamic Empire from 600-1200?

During this unit, the pupils analyse three case studies, to evaluate the impact they had on the Islamic Empire. These are the Rashidun Caliphate (Rightly guided Caliphs), the Abbasid dynasty including the Golden Age of Islam and finally the impact of Salahuddin. The inquiry question will support the students to make an evaluative and substantiated response on which was the most important turning point.

(3)

Who was the most effective Mughal Emperor from 1500-1727?

Over the next term, the pupils will be working to assess the rule of the first six Mughal Emperors from Babur to Aurangzeb. They will analyse themes such as religion, economy, cultural and military achievements of the Mughals to establish an evaluative judgment on which emperors were the most effective rulers.

(7) (3) 

Autumn Term 2

How far did the Norman conquest change England after 1066?

During this unit, the pupils will develop their conceptual skills based around change and continuity in Britain. They will spend the initial part of the course focused on Anglo-Saxon England and on four key themes: the power of the monarchy, law and order, society and the economy. Students will then study the Norman invasion and assess the consequences and changes that arose as a result of that. This comparison of monarchy, law and order, society and economy will allow them to make an effective comparison and judgment of how far it had changed, (1)

“The British Empire was a force for good” Do you agree?

During this unit, students will focus on the British Empire in Africa and India and interpretations of the British Empire. Students will begin by focusing on the EIC takeover of India and the rule of the British government, the Indian war of independence and its lasting impact on India. Students will then examine the case study of Africa, focusing on the significance of Cecil Rhodes, the British conquest of the Suez, South Africa and the Boer War. The students will use these case studies to examine different interpretations of the British Empire from historians such as Niall Ferguson and David Olsagie.

(3)  

Spring Term 1

How did English Queens develop religious policy in England?

During this unit, the pupils will continue their study of British History with a study of the Tudors. The pupils will examine this period through the lens of female rulers and their impact on religious policy. They will evaluate the impact of Anne Boleynn, Mary I and Elizabeth I to understand their impact on religious policy in England.

(1) (2) 

How did different people experience World War One?

During this unit, the pupils will develop a deep understanding of the First World War (1914-1918). The pupils will examine the experiences of different people in World War I. This will focus on the British experience on the Western Front, Home Front, experience of non Europeans (Muslims and African soldiers) and the experience of the Germans at war and on the homefront.(4)

Spring Term 2

Why did West Africa become globalised?

This unit allows the pupils to understand how the kingdoms of Mali and Songhai became globalised through the discovery of rich natural resources (gold mines), contact with Islam and connection with other traders and cultures. This will shape the student’s understanding of African civilisation so that they will have a far broader perspective when they go on to study the Slave Trade and the British Empire in Africa.

(2)(3)

World War Two and the Holocaust

Throughout this unit, the pupils will focus on two inquiry questions. Did Churchill win the war for Britain? What was the Jewish experience of the Holocaust?

This will allow students to focus primarily on Chruchill’s contribution to Allied success in WW2 but also other contributing factors such as the actions of the USSR and the USA.

The Holocaust unit will examine Jewish life before WW2 and then their experiences during Nazi rule culminating in the Death Camps in Eastern Europe.

(4)

Summer Term 1

Slave Trade and Black Britain

This unit will focus a negative consequence of exploration with the slave trade. This topic will then include how the slave trade affected the people and the abolitionist movement in the early 1800s. 

This will lead to a second inquiry based around how the lives of enslaved people changed as a result of the abolition of the slave trade. Students will investigate the short term and long term impact. 

(2) (3)

Creation of Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Pupils will focus on how the Holocaust was a driving factor amongst other factors for the creation of the state of Israel. These were Jewish terrorism, British financial collapse and withdrawal and support from the USA.

This will lead us into a second inquiry based on how this led to the escalation of conflict between the Arabs and Israeli from 1948-1995.

(4)

Summer Term 2

Thematic Unit: Power and the People.

This unit will focus on how people over the last 500 years had fought for their rights and were successful. 

(6)

Thematic Unit: Migration.

This unit will focus on the migration of people. This will look at the push and pull factors of migrants and will end with a case study of changes in Luton. 

(5) (6)

Extra-curricular provision 

History Book Club

Possible trips:

  • Trip to Battle of Hastings 
  • St. Albans Cathedral
  • The Tower of London

History Book Club

Possible trips:

  • Trip to WW1 Battlefields
  • Imperial War Museum
  • National Army Museum 

 

History Programme of Study: Key Stage 3

Department for Education - Purpose of Study

Students should be taught about:

The development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509

Examples (non-statutory)

This could include:

  • the Norman Conquest
  • Christendom, the importance of religion and the Crusades
  • the struggle between Church and crown
  • Magna Carta and the emergence of Parliament
  • the English campaigns to conquer Wales and Scotland up to 1314

Examples (non-statutory)

  • society, economy and culture: for example, feudalism, religion in daily life (parishes, monasteries, abbeys), farming, trade and towns (especially the wool trade), art, architecture and literature
  • the Black Death and its social and economic impact
  • the Peasants’ Revolt
  • the Hundred Years War
  • the Wars of the Roses; Henry VII and attempts to restore stability

 

The development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745

Examples (non-statutory)

This could include:

  • Renaissance and Reformation in Europe
  • the English Reformation and Counter Reformation (Henry VIII to Mary I)
  • the Elizabethan religious settlement and conflict with Catholics (including Scotland, Spain and Ireland)
  • the first colony in America and first contact with India
  • the causes and events of the civil wars throughout Britain
  • the Interregnum (including Cromwell in Ireland)
  • the Restoration, ‘Glorious Revolution’ and power of Parliament
  • the Act of Union of 1707, the Hanoverian succession and the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745
  • society, economy and culture across the period: for example, work and leisure in town and country, religion and superstition in daily life, theatre, art, music and literature

Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901

Examples (non-statutory)

This could include:

  • the Enlightenment in Europe and Britain, with links back to 17th-Century thinkers and scientists and the founding of the Royal Society
  • Britain’s transatlantic slave trade: its effects and its eventual abolition
  • the Seven Years War and The American War of Independence
  • the French Revolutionary wars
  • Britain as the first industrial nation – the impact on society
  • party politics, extension of the franchise and social reform
  • the development of the British Empire with a depth study (for example, of India)
  • Ireland and Home Rule
  • Darwin’s ‘On The Origin of Species’

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day In addition to studying the Holocaust, this could include:

Examples (non-statutory)

  • women’s suffrage
  • the First World War and the Peace Settlement
  • the inter-war years: the Great Depression and the rise of dictators
  • the Second World War and the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill
  • the creation of the Welfare State
  • Indian independence and end of Empire
  • social, cultural and technological change in post-war British society
  • Britain’s place in the world since 1945

A local history study

Examples (non-statutory)

  • a depth study linked to one of the British areas of study listed above
  • a study over time, testing how far sites in their locality reflect aspects of national history (some sites may predate 1066)
  • a study of an aspect or site in local history dating from a period before 1066

Key Stage 3

The study of an aspect or theme in British history that consolidates and extends pupils’ chronological knowledge from before 1066

Examples (non-statutory)

  • the changing nature of political power in Britain traced through selective case studies from the Iron Age to the present
  • Britain’s changing landscape from the Iron Age to the present
  • a study of an aspect of social history, such as the impact through time of the migration of people to, from and within the British Isles
  • a study in depth into a significant turning point: for example, the Neolithic Revolution

At least one study of a significant society or issue in world history and its interconnections with other world developments [for example, Mughal India 1526-1857; China’s Qing dynasty 1644-1911; Changing Russian empires c.1800-1989; USA in the 20th Century].