History

History lessons at Wilson's are engaging and challenging. Pupils enjoy the subject at all key stages. We believe that the provision of a high-quality history education helps pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

We therefore seek to inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past.

This means equipping pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. We help pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

The History Department is a very well regarded and highly successful department within Wilson's School. All students study History at Key Stage 3, which at Wilson's is a two year programme, and the subject is a popular options choice at both GCSE (with a three year programme of study) and A Level. At GCSE the department follows the new Eduqas specification. At A Level we follow the AQA specification.

Our Staff

Mrs Berry (Head of Department)
Miss Clarke
Mr Cole
Mr Englefield
Mr Gore
Mr Powell

Key Stage 3

We cover the following topic areas in Years 7 and 8:

Year 7

Medieval power structures, how they were challenged and how they compared to Saxon England. Including the Norman Conquest, Magna Carta and Black Death
Changes to religion and society under the Tudors, including the Reformation and Counter Reformation (Henry VIII to Mary I)
Elizabeth I’s international reign, including the lives of Black Tudors, and the early origins of slavery during the Elizabethan period
Making of the UK, including the Civil War, Restoration and Glorious Revolution

KS3 Core Concepts

1 Knowledge and understanding

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the periods studied

EXCEEDING: Knowledge is wide ranging and is deployed with confidence. Understanding is shown via the deployment of factual knowledge in a way that belies an acute sense of period and significance.

SECURE: Knowledge is good and is accurately deployed. Understanding is shown via the accurate selection of relevant content for each circumstance.

DEVELOPING: Knowledge is very narrow and is deployed inaccurately, or with limited understanding. On occasion, deployment of knowledge belies anachronistic thinking.

2 Explanation and analysis

Demonstrate an ability to explain, analyse and reach substantiated judgments about periods using historical skills such as using evidence, or historical concepts change and continuity, interpretations, causation and significance

EXCEEDING: Considerable insight is shown when making analytical judgements. Views are re-thought in light of new knowledge and arguments are re-framed their argument on the basis of what others say if appropriate. Complex ideas do not faze pupils and they enjoy the multiplicity of causes and explanations. They often seek to identify the complexities within an issue that seems to have an 'obvious' explanation on the surface.

SECURE: Shows an ability to explain how and why certain events happen or the impact of individual actions, often with a balanced conclusion and an emerging ability to link/prioritise in reaching a final judgement.

DEVELOPING: Shows an understanding of chronology and how events have happened – but answers lack a thorough explanation as to why they have happened in that way.

3 Evidential understanding

Demonstrate evidential understanding by using sources (contemporary and modern) to describe, explain and make judgments about the periods you have studied

EXCEEDING: Able to evaluate critically a wide range of different sources and reach substantiated conclusions independently.
SECURE: Shows a limited understanding of how origin and purpose can impact on source content.

DEVELOPING: Shows an understanding of what origin and purpose are, but does not effectively evaluate the impact of these upon the content of a source.

Year 8

Industrial Revolution: transport, working and living conditions, developments in public health and democracy, the role of Empire and slavery
French Revolution: the Estates System, causes of revolution, Louis XVI
The Russian Revolution: causes of revolution. Comparisons with other revolutions
WW1: causes, trench conditions, the Battle of the Somme, the role of troops from the British Empire, and the role of women.
Europe 1920s to 1945: Treaty of Versailles, rise of Nazism, Holocaust
Thematic enquiry, asking: How has migration impacted Britain, 1066 – 2000?

We aim to prepare boys for GCSE History whilst also developing key historical skills and powerful knowledge about peoples of the past, enabling students to better understand the world today.

Key Stage 4

There are four examinations in GCSE History. All of these are taken at the end of Year 11. We follow the WJEC (Eduqas) History syllabus, which is available here.

Year 9

British Study: 1B The Elizabethan Age, 1558 – 1603
Non-British Study: 1G Germany in Transition, 1919 – 1939

Year 10

Thematic Study : 2E Changes in Crime and Punishment, c.500 to the present day (The requirement to study an historic site is part of the Thematic Study)
Non-British Study: 1G Germany in Transition, 1919 – 1939

Year 11

Period Study: 2A The Development of the USA, 1929 – 2000

*The order we study the GCSE Units changed in 2024. As a result, our 2024/25 Year 11 students will be studying Germany in Transition 1918-1945 in Year 11.

Educational Visit
Wilson’s History Trip to the battlefields of the Western Front in Belgium and France (Year 10)

Key Stage 5

Component 1: 1F Industrialisation and the People: Britain, c. 1783 – 1885

Part One (AS): The Impact of Industrialisation: Britain, c1783 – 1832
Written exam 1 hour 30 minutes. Questions:

Section A: one compulsory question linked to interpretations (25 marks)
Section B: one question from two (25 marks)

50 marks: 50% of AS

Part Two (A Level): The Age of Reform: Britain, 1832 – 1885
Written exam 2 hour 30 minutes. Questions:

Section A: one compulsory question linked to interpretations (30 marks)
Section B: two from three essays (2 x 25 marks)

80 marks: 40% of A Level

Component 2: 2L Italy and Fascism, c. 1900 – 1945

Part One (AS): The Crisis of Liberal Italy and the Rise of Mussolini, c. 1900 – 1926
Written exam 1 hour 30 minutes. Questions:

Section A: one compulsory question linked to primary sources or sources contemporary to the period (25 marks)
Section B: one question from two (25 marks)

50 marks: 50% of AS

Part Two (A Level): Fascist Italy, 1926 – 1945
Written exam 2 hour 30 minutes. Questions:

Section A: one compulsory question linked to primary sources or sources contemporary to the period (30 marks)
Section B: two from three essays (2 x 25 marks)

80 marks: 40% of A Level

Component 3: Historical Investigation

A personal study based on change and continuity in Germany 1870 – 1990. Question:
To what extent was the authoritarian nature of the Nazi regime an aberration in the context of German history in the years 1871-1989?
3,000 – 3,500 words; 40 marks; 20% of A Level. Marked by teachers, moderated by AQA

Support

Enrichment
Wilson’s History department offers students the opportunity to work and learn outside core lessons, through clinics, clubs and support for History competitions. These give the students the opportunity to revise work that has been covered in preparation towards exams but they also try to offer the students a broader perspective on their studies. In particular:

History Clinic takes places on Mondays in room 26, from 1.20: members of the department are on hand to answer any questions or concerns you might have.
History Club runs weekly on Thursdays in room 20, from 1.15: all are welcome. At History Club we aim to look at the philosophy of history and what it means to “think like an historian”. No prior knowledge is needed – just turn up!
Competitions: Young Historian of the Year, Oxbridge essay writing and many more take place every year. Speak to Miss Riddle or your History teacher if you have any questions about this.
Wider reading: We also have a small library of history books and lots of recommendations. Ask your teacher if there is a particular topic you would like to know more about.