Paper 1:
Section A : Conflict and tension, 1918–1939
This wider world depth study enables students to understand the complex and diverse interests of different individuals and states. It focuses on the causes of the Second World War and seeks to show how and why conflict occurred and why it proved difficult to resolve the issues which caused it. This study also considers the role of key individuals and groups as well as how they were affected and influenced by international relations.
Section B : Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and dictatorship
This period study focuses on the development of Germany during a turbulent half century of change. It was a period of democracy and dictatorship – the development and collapse of democracy and the rise and fall of Nazism. Students will study the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of these two developments and the role ideas played in influencing change. Students will also look at the role of key individuals and groups and the impact the developments had on them.
Paper 2:
Section A : Britain – Power and the people
This thematic study will enable students to gain an understanding of the development of the relationship between the citizen and the state in Britain over a long period of time. It considers the causes, scale, nature and consequences of protest to that relationship. By charting the journey from feudalism and serfdom to democracy and equality, it reveals how, in different periods, the state responds to challenges to its authority and the consequences. It allows students to construct an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of the citizen.
Section B : Elizabethan England, c.1568–1603
This option allows students to study in depth a specified historical period, the last 35 years of Elizabeth I’s reign. The study will focus on some major events of Elizabeth I’s reign considered from the economic, religious, political, social and cultural standpoint and arising controversies.
Year 10
Autumn Term
1: To what extent was peace achieved after World War One?
How was the post-war settlement reached? The armistice: aims of the peacemakers; Wilson and the Fourteen Points; Clemenceau and Lloyd George; the extent to which they achieved their aims.
What were the contents of the settlement? The Versailles Settlement: Diktat; territorial changes; military restrictions; war guilt and reparations.
What impacts did the settlement have? Impact of the treaty and wider settlement: reactions of the Allies; German objections; strengths and weaknesses of the settlement, including the problems faced by new states.
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students need to know how the post-war settlement was constructed out of the conflicting priorities of the peacemakers, what its key provisions were, and how these provisions were likely to impact the countries affected by the relevant treaties.
2: Was the League of Nations destined to fail?
How and why did the League fail in the 1930s? Impact of the Great Depression, plus case studies of the Manchurian and Abyssinian crises.
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students need to know how the League of Nations was set up to function, how it was supported/undermined by other agreements, and key causes and symptoms of its ultimate failure to solve the crises of the 1930s.
Spring Term
1: Why was World War Two not avoided?
Why was the League of Nations unable to prevent war in 1939? The collapse of the League: the effects of the Depression; the Manchurian and Abyssinian crises and their consequences; the failure of the League to avert war in 1939. (NB: this is largely taught in the prior section, KQ2.)
How and why did international tension begin to escalate in the 1930s? The development of tension: Hitler’s aims and Allied reactions; the Dollfuss Affair; the Saar; German rearmament, including conscription; the Stresa Front; Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
Why did no-one succeed in stopping Germany before the Second World War? Escalation of tension: remilitarisation of the Rhineland; Mussolini, the Axis and the Anti-Comintern Pact; Anschluss; reasons for and against the policy of appeasement; the Sudeten Crisis and Munich; the ending of appeasement.
Students need to know why tension emerged in the early 1930s (especially between European powers), why a policy of appeasement was pursued, and how and why this policy failed to resolve the tensions that had emerged.
Summer Term
1: How did power and religion change in Elizabethan times?
What was the role of Elizabeth’s court and parliament? Including: background and character of Elizabeth I; court life, including patronage; key ministers
Why was it difficult to be a female ruler? Including: relations with Parliament; the problem of marriage and the succession; the strength of Elizabeth’s authority at the end of her reign,
What religious matters did Elizabeth face throughout her reign? Including: the question of religion, English Catholicism and Protestantism; Elizabeth’s excommunication
Who was Elizabeth I?
Who was powerful in Elizabethan England?
Why was it difficult to be a female ruler?
Why was marriage so important to Elizabeth I?
Norfolk’s rebellion – The Northern Rebellion 1569 and the Ridolfi Plot 1571 (causes, events, consequences)
Why did rebellions against Elizabeth fail?
How did England’s religion change under Elizabeth?
Reactions to religious changes: England and abroad
Elizabeth and the ‘Catholic threat’
What were the beliefs of Puritans?
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the Elizabethan period by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
2: How did society change in Elizabethan times?
Was Elizabethan England a ‘Golden Age’? Including:living standards and fashions; growing prosperity and the rise of the gentry; the Elizabethan theatre and its achievements; attitudes to the theatre.
Why was there so much poverty in Elizabethan England? Including: reasons for the increase in poverty; attitudes and responses to poverty; the reasons for government action and the seriousness of the problem.
What were the voyages of exploration and why were they so important? Including:: Hawkins and Drake; circumnavigation 1577–1580, voyages and trade; the role of Raleigh. – The Historic Environment – The Americas and Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe
Why did some people get wealthier during Elizabeth’s reign? How did this impact Elizabethan fashion?
What was the role of theatre in Elizabethan England?
Was Elizabethan England really a ‘Golden Age’?
Why was there so much poverty in Elizabethan England?
How did Elizabethans respond to poverty?
How did the government treat the poor?
Who was Sir Francis Drake?
What were voyages of exploration, and why were they so important?
Did voyages abroad make England rich and powerful?
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the Elizabethan period by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
Students will need to be able to organise knowledge into different factors (about the voyages of discovery and Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe) – Historic Environment essay; the location changes each year which is chosen by AQA.
Year 11
Autumn Term
1: How did Elizabeth’s authority change at home and abroad?
What religious threats did Elizabeth face throughout her reign? Including: The missionaries; Catholic plots and the threat to the Elizabethan settlement; the nature and ideas of the Puritans and Puritanism; Elizabeth and her government’s responses and policies towards religious matters, the Northern Rebellion
Why was Mary Queen of Scots seen as such a threat? Including: Mary Queen of Scots: background; Elizabeth and Parliament’s treatment of Mary; the challenge posed by Mary; plots; execution and its impact, Essex’s Rebellion
Why was there conflict between England and Spain? Including: Conflict with Spain: reasons; events; naval warfare, including tactics and technology; the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Norfolk’s rebellion – The Northern Rebellion 1569 and the Ridolfi Plot 1571 (causes, events, consequences)
Essex’s Rebellion – Who was Essex and why did he rebel against the Queen?
Elizabeth and the ‘Catholic threat’
What were the beliefs of Puritans?
Why was Mary Queen of Scots seen as such a threat?
How did Elizabeth treat Mary Queen of Scots and why?
Why was there conflict between England and Spain?
What was the importance of naval warfare during Elizabeth’s reign?
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the Elizabethan period by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
2: How and why was authority and feudalism challenged in the Middle Ages?
What popular uprisings took place against the Crown in the Early Modern Era? Including the social, economic, religious and political causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace; the implications for royal authority; Henry VIII and his government’s reaction and the impact of the uprising.
What was Divine Right and how did parliamentary authority evolve in the Early Modern Era? Including, the causes of the English Revolution; the New Model Army and the development of political radicalism during the Civil War era; the short and long-term impact of the English Revolution, including the significance of trial and execution of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth.
How was royal authority challenged because of the right to representation? Including, the causes of the American Revolution including the relationship between the government and people; impact and significance of the American Revolution
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the Early Modern Period by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; comparing the similarities between events and key individuals; categorising causes and events into factors (e.g. the economy, violence, ideas etc.); analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
Spring Term
1: How and why was royal authority challenged in the Early Modern Period?
What popular uprisings took place against the Crown in the Early Modern Era? Including the social, economic, religious and political causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace; the implications for royal authority; Henry VIII and his government’s reaction and the impact of the uprising.
What was Divine Right and how did parliamentary authority evolve in the Early Modern Era? Including, the causes of the English Revolution; the New Model Army and the development of political radicalism during the Civil War era; the short and long-term impact of the English Revolution, including the significance of trial and execution of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth.
How was royal authority challenged because of the right to representation? Including, the causes of the American Revolution including the relationship between the government and people; impact and significance of the America
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the Early Modern Period by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; comparing the similarities between events and key individuals; categorising causes and events into factors (e.g. the economy, violence, ideas etc.); analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
How and why did people campaign for reform in the industrial era?
How far and why was the franchise extended in the early industrial era? Including, radical protest; the Great Reform Act, causes and impact, including further reform; Chartism, causes, actions and impact.
To what extent were campaigners and protestors successful in demanding change in the nineteenth century? Including campaigning groups and their methods and impact, including the Anti-Slavery movement; the Anti-Corn Law League; factory reformers; social reformers.
To what extent were workers movements successful in the nineteenth century? Including, the development of trade unionism and its impact, including Grand National Consolidation Trades Union (GNCTU), Tolpuddle Martyrs, New Model Unions and new unionism, including the match girls’ and dockers’
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the industrial era by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; comparing the similarities between events and key individuals; categorising causes and events into factors (e.g. the economy, violence, ideas etc.); analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
How and why did minorities fight for equality and rights in the Modern era?
How and why did women campaign to extend the franchise during the early twentieth century? Including, the campaign for women’s suffrage, reasons, methods and responses; role of individuals, including the Pankhursts; the reasons for the extension of the franchise and its impact; progress towards equality in the second half of the 20th century.
To what extent did the rights of workers develop during the twentieth century? Including, the General Strike (1926), actions, reactions and impact; trade union reform in the late 20th century.
To what extent did the rights of minorities develop during the twentieth century? Including, the development of multi-racial society since the Second World War; discrimination, protest and reform; the Brixton Riots, their impact, including the Scarman Report.
Students will investigate how historians investigate the past, construct claims, arguments and write accounts.
Students will develop this knowledge as they analyse key features from and characteristics of the Twentieth Century by: explaining the significance of events and key individuals; comparing the similarities between events and key individuals; categorising causes and events into factors (e.g. the economy, violence, ideas etc.); analysing and using sources to investigate the topic; evaluating interpretations about the topic.
Summer Term
Revision and preparation for GCSE examinations
Assessment at Key stage 4
Internal: Assessments which include exam style questions at the end of each topic, mock examination at the end of year 10, mock examination in year 11 (content varies each year). Students will be given regular feedback which they will use to create targets and track these over the course of the year.
External: Year 11 summer term terminal examination
Paper 1 and 2 (2 hours each)
How can parents help support their child’s learning?
Completing homework set by staff and accessing Google Classroom to help support learning outside of the classroom. Access websites such as BBC bitesize, BBC teach,Oxford University Press textbooks and revision guides, GCSE pod, Seneca.
Enrichment opportunities
Year 10 attend a trip to a historic environment. In the past, they have visited the National Maritime Museum, Kenilworth Castle and Hardwick Hall.
GCSE course/s (exam board and code)
