Caister High School – Arts College

Welcome to the History Department at Caister High School. History is a popular subject at school and the department is proud of its pupils who in recent years have had many successes. In 2011 69% of pupils at GCSE gained grades A* to C with 1 in 4 pupils achieving the top grade, and in 2012 pupils achieved 77% A* to C grades.

The department is based in two spacious and well-resourced teaching rooms in the East Block.

The study of History is a fascinating, enjoyable and empowering experience for pupils in school. The department strives to provide pupils of all abilities with rich and engaging learning experiences in lessons and through extra-curricular activities such as trips with always the goal in mind of making these experiences relevant to pupils’ own lives. History is all around us and is about all of us. It is also a subject highly prized by employers as the skills we use in History are important ones to have and it is regarded as a strongly academic subject. At both Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils in History develop the important skills of being able to study and analyse evidence, frame and support an argument, communicate ideas and opinions effectively, to debate, and to question the world around us. The study of History also develops us as human beings in appreciating and showing empathy with peoples and situations from the past and to ‘learn the lessons’ of the past. The subject also gives pupils a sense of who we are and helps explain something of the world we live in today and why things are the way they are.

Programmes of study:

Pupils in Key Stage 3 follow the model outlined below at present:

Year 7: 1 lesson a week. Topics and areas of study include:

• ·         What is History?
• ·         The work of the ‘detective historian’
• ·         The Norman conquest of England
• ·         The life of knights and life in castles
• ·         Life in England during the Middle Ages
• ·         The Crusades
• ·         The Black Death
• ·         Peoples’ struggles for power

Year 8: 2 lessons a week. Topics and areas of study include:

• ·         England under the Tudor Kings and Queens
• ·         Life for people in the 16^th century
• ·         The Spanish Armada
• ·         The English Civil War
• ·         The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Year 9: 1 lesson a week. Topics and areas of study include:

• ·         How Britain became ‘the workshop of the world’ : the Industrial Revolution
• ·         Life for children in the mills
• ·         The changing city in Britain: social conditions and public health
• ·         The Jack the Ripper murders and law & order in the 19^th century
• ·         Britain’s Empire and the outbreak of the First World War
• ·         Life for civilians during the First World War
• ·         The rise of the Nazis
• ·         The Second World War and the Holocaust
• ·         The Homefront during the Second World War
• ·         Europe since 1950 and the shaping of the Modern World

At GCSE pupils follow the Edexcel History B course (Schools’ History Project). Pupils study:

• ·         The American West (1840-1895)
• ·         Medicine Through Time
• ·         The Transformation of Surgery (1800-1950)
• ·         A controlled assessment component which changes every 2 years