History

The aims of the history department are:

  • To make the study of history stimulating and enjoyable and to encourage a lasting interest in the past 
  • To develop pupils’ understanding of the past 
  • To investigate historical events and people, change and continuity, cause and effect 
  • To examine historical sources critically 
  • To develop an understanding of bias and propaganda. 

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

L. P. Hartley

History at The Queen's School

History is a compulsory subject in Years 7 to 9. The National Curriculum for Key Stage 3 forms the basis of our teaching. In Year 7 pupils learn about life in the Early Modern Period (Tudors & Stuarts, 1485-1714); in Year 8 pupils study a modern history curriculum which included World Wars 1 and 2 and the rise of Fascism in Europe. We begin GCSE study in Year 9, with introductions to key units such as life in Elizabethan England and the Civil Rights Movement in the USA. In the summer term, pupils also complete an historical enquiry on Victorian Whitechapel and the crimes of Jack the Ripper.

The subject is optional at GCSE. We follow the Edexcel course which covers the following key areas:

  • Crime & Punishment Throughout Time
  • Early Elizabethan England, 1558-88
  • British America, 1713-83
  • The USA 1954-1973: Conflict at home and abroad

At A-level our pupils study alternatives in Early Modern British and Modern European History with the opportunity to develop their independent study skills in Year 13 when they take part in an historical enquiry into the causes of the Great European Witch-hunt of the C16th & C17th. .