History

“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes Have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.”  ~ Deuteronomy 4:9

The History department strives to fulfil our school mission by providing an ambitious knowledge rich ambitious curriculum which has Catholic education at its heart. Our curriculum has been designed to allow our students to flourish into best version of themselves. Whilst our subject specialist teachers impart their knowledge through the love of their subject. History at its core is based upon a desire to see justice throughout the world for all peoples.

Our hope is that our students develop into people with a strong moral compass. To have the faith and conviction to make the world a better place both now and for future generations.

Curriculum Intent

We recognise that a high-quality History education is essential for the progress and success of our pupils. Our knowledge rich curriculum covers a wide breath of content which builds upon the work covered in key stage 2 and fully prepares pupils for transition to GCSE and beyond. Our balanced curriculum is based upon the most up to date educational research and ensures that progression through years 7-9 enables the pupils to enhance and hone their historical skills. Whilst the key focus on retrieval enables pupils to draw upon any aspect in their future learning. By the end of key stage 3 pupils will have acquired a comprehensive and substantive historical knowledge which in turn allows them to develop an appreciation of the study of History on a broader scale.

Pupils will learn about a diverse range of events and people from a variety of places in the world. As they progress through the curriculum their growing knowledge will help them deepen their understanding of what makes events and people significant, what has caused some of these significant events, and what are the consequences of these. Students will also develop an understanding of how things change and develop over time. Historical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the framework that underpins our approach to the History curriculum.

Curriculum 

Key Stage 4


At St John Bosco we study the Edexcel GCSE History course.

Paper 1: Thematic study and Historic Environment
The British sector of the Western Front, 1914-18: injuries, treatment and the trenches, Medicine in Britian, c1250-present
Paper 2: Period study and British depth study
British Depth Study- Option B4: Early Elizabethan England, 1558–88
Period Study- Option P4: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91
Paper 3: Modern depth study
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918-39

Year 10

Period Study- Option P4: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941–91
Modern depth study- Option 31: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39

Year 11

British Depth Study - Option B4: early Elizabethan England, 1558-88
Thematic study and historic environment- Option 11: Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches Medicine in Britain, c1250–present

Key Stage 5

At St John Bosco we study the AQA A-Level History course.

This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams and submit all their non-exam assessment at the end of the course.

Breadth study- 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964
Depth study- 2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007 

Year 12

Part 1: Autocracy, Reform and Revolution: Russia, 1855–1917
Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855–1894
The collapse of autocracy, 1894–1917
Part 2: building a new Britain, 1951–1979
The Affluent Society, 1951–1964
The Sixties, 1964–1970
The end of Post-War Consensus, 1970–1979

Year 13

Part 1: The Soviet Union, 1917–1964
The emergence of Communist dictatorship, 1917–1941
The Stalinist dictatorship and reaction, 1941–1964
Part 2: Modern Britain, 1979–2007
The impact of Thatcherism, 1979–1987
Towards a new Consensus, 1987–1997
The Era of New Labour, 1997–2007

NEA
Tudor Rebellions

Key Stage 3


Year 7

  • Migration

  • How disruptive were the Normans?

  • Medieval Life

  • Medieval Monarchs

  • The Crusades

Year 8

  • The Renaissance and Martin Luther

  • The Tudors

  • Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War

  • The Victorian Era

  • Africa, the Slave Trade and the Black Freedom Struggle

Year 9

  • The Chartists

  • The Suffragettes

  • WWI

  • Genocide

  • America post WWII


Revision Support

  • JSTOR

  • SENECA

  • Andrew Marr series and works

  • Lucy Wosley series and works

  • Departmental library of additional reading

  • BBC news


If you are interested in antiquity, historical figures or archaeology then why not try one of our book recommendations all about history - simply select the 'History' Reading List image, and click on the book cover that you are interested in. Looking for more books based on this subject? Then check out our further book recommendations on Accessit here: History Reading List

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