History curriculum

History

Key stage content

Open each section to read the full curriculum outline for that key stage.

Through studying history at JFS, students explore the ways in which past events and societies have shaped the world we live in today. They learn about how different communities were structured, how they governed themselves, and the beliefs and cultures that guided people’s choices and behaviours.

Our KS3 history curriculum sparks students’ interest in the past in Britain and the wider world. As students delve into the past across the three years, they are able to construct a coherent narrative of the past from the first millennium, while also developing a deep understanding of the key characteristics and trends that define different historical periods (such as the medieval period and the Renaissance). Through our curriculum choices and by studying a diversity of people, groups and experiences, students will also gain a deeper understanding of the complexity and variety of human experience.

 

At JFS, we sequence our Key Stage Three history curriculum chronologically, and ensure students are taught the historical periods and themes specified by the national curriculum:

  • A history study from before 1066
  • The development of Church state, and society in Britain between 1066 and 1745, including a local history study on the city of London
  • Ideas, political power, industry and empire in Britain between 1745 to 1901
  • Challenges faced by Britain, Europe and the wider world from 1901 to the present day, including the Holocaust


YEAR 7 (1 lesson per week)

  1. Introduction lesson: How do historians measure the past?
  2. Story Summary: Why did different people go to the city of Constantinople in the 11th century?
  3. Enquiry Question 1: What made Baghdad a centre of learning?
  4. Enquiry Question 2: What light can one saint shed on Western Christian worlds?
  5. Enquiry Question 3: How disruptive were the Normans?
  6. Enquiry Question 4: What does the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine reveal about the medieval world
  7. Enquiry Question 5: Who had power in 13th century England?
  8. Enquiry Question 6: How did one village respond to the Black Death?


YEAR 8 (2 lessons per week)

  1. Enquiry Question 1: What kind of change was the Renaissance?
  2. Story Summary: The Reformation begins in Germany
  3. Enquiry Question 2: What changed in the village of Morebath between 1520 and 1574?
  4. Enquiry Question 3: Why has Camilla Townsend written a ‘new’ history of the Aztecs?
  5. Enquiry Question 4: What connected Elizabeth and the Elizabethans to wider worlds?
  6. Enquiry Question 5: How can we tell the story of Nur Jahan?
  7. Enquiry Question 6: What happened to London in the 17th century?
  8. Enquiry Question 7: What does the story of Mansa Musa reveal about medieval West Africa?
  9. Enquiry Question 8: What’s the story of Transatlantic slavery?
  10. Enquiry Question 9: What did liberty mean to Enlightenment thinkers?
  11. Enquiry Question 10: What can historians infer about industrial worlds from working people’s voices?
  12. Enquiry Question 11: What was British colonialism like in the 19th century?


YEAR 9 (2 lessons per week)

  1. Enquiry Question 1: Why did women get the right to vote?
  2. Enquiry Question 2: What caused the ‘Great War’?
  3. Enquiry Question 3: What was it like to fight in the ‘Great War’?
  4. Enquiry Question 4: Why do histories of the Great War differ?
  5. Enquiry Question 5: Why was Europe worried about Russia?
  6. Enquiry Question 6: What drove Britain to another war in 1939?
  7. Enquiry Question 7: How did the experiences of European Jews change from 1933 to 1945?
  8. Enquiry Question 8: What was the most significant turning point of World War Two?
  9. Enquiry Question 9: How did the atomic bomb reshape the world?
  10. Enquiry Question 10: Civil rights in the USA (question TBC)

We aim to develop students’ ability to think independently, analytically and enter the wider world with a critical eye as well as with a greater understanding of the world around them.

Investigation through evidence trains students to establish the facts and to develop their ideas a step further. Problem solving takes them closer to the truth. Through debating, other opinions and decisions will be heard. In written work they will be taught to express themselves more clearly.

Content: Students will explore 1000 years of history, broadening their chronological understanding. The course will also give students the opportunity to study both modern and early modern history in more depth, as well as the opportunity to study the history of a range of different nations. Throughout the course students will unravel historical events to develop an understanding of significant historical moments. For example:

  • What events could possibly lead to the murder of a royal family?
  • How did former allies, the USA and Soviet Union, come to the brink of nuclear war?
  • How has our understanding of justice changed through time?
  • Why did England survive an invasion attempt by the sixteenth century’s most powerful nation state?


Topics Studied

  • The Russian revolution and Stalin’s Dictatorship 1917-41.
  • The Cold War 1943-991.
  • Early Elizabeth England 1558-88.
  • Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000-present with Whitechapel, c1870-c1900: crime and policing.

How it will be assessed: The course is examined at the end of two years and features no Controlled Assessments, only written examinations. Paper 1 and 3 carry a 30% weighting and Paper 2 is given a 40% weighting. Marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar are also awarded in Papers 1 and 3.

Year 12: The course in the first year covers German history from the end of the First World War to the fall of 
the Berlin Wall. It looks at Germany’s fall to and recovery from Nazi rule, as well as its subsequent division under 
Communist and Capitalist rule. We will also study the collapse of liberal democracy and the rise of Fascism in Italy as 
a way of thinking about the ideological battles that were taking place in Europe in the first half of the 20th Century.

 

Year 13: In the second year, students complete their coursework, which will focus on an area of historiographical debate (Causes of the First World War) and an exam-based course that will focus on the British Empire, including the American Revolutionary War, India, Canada and the treatment of the indigenous people in Australia.

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History is considered a ‘Blue Chip’ A Level. Success in this subject shows that you have developed analytical skills 
and can articulate an argument. With this in mind, it is an excellent grounding for any humanities-based further study.