Introduction
This is an exciting course designed to look at History in depth and over longer periods of time History is a fascinating subject and is a popular option at GCSE. The department achieves consistently excellent results.
How is the course assessed?
| Content in Year 11 examinations | Assessment and % weighting |
| Thematic Study | Exam = 1 Hour 15 minutes
30% |
| British Depth Study | Exam = 1 Hour 45 minutes
40% (20% for each study topic) |
| Modern Depth Study | Exam =1 Hour 20 minutes
30% |
Course Content
| Course Content | Example content |
| Thematic Study
The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches.
Medicine in Britain, c1250–present |
What people have believed caused disease through time and how they have tried to cure disease eg dealing with the Black Death, 1348–49; approaches to treatment and attempts to prevent its spread, Jenner and the development of vaccination, the development of penicillin, the fight against lung cancer in the twenty-first century.
The significance of the Western Front for experiments in surgery and medicine: new techniques in the treatment of wounds and infection. |
| British Depth Study
Elizabethan England, 1558-88
Period Study The American West c1835 – c1895 |
Elizabeth’s religious settlement, Mary, Queen of Scots: her claim to the English throne and her execution, reasons why Philip used the Spanish Armada and the reasons for English victory/
Reasons for tension between settlers and Plains Indians. The impact of railroads, the cattle industry and gold prospecting on the Plains Indians, conflict with the Plains Indians, the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the Wounded Knee Massacre. |
| Modern Depth Study
Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-39 |
Reasons for the growth in support for the Nazi Party, including the appeal of Hitler and the Nazis, Nazi aims and policies towards the young, the Hitler Youth, the persecution of the Jews, including the boycott of Jewish shops and businesses, the Nuremberg Laws and Kristallnacht. |
Future Pathways
GCSE History is an excellent course to prepare you for A-Level History in Sixth Form.
Students of History are well prepared for careers in: law, journalism, politics, civil service, media, research and teaching.