THE ECCLESBOURNE SCHOOL

Key Stage 3   |    Key Stage 4   |    Key Stage 5

 Exam Board: OCR

Contact: Mr J. Cuthbert

Course Overview

We believe that history allows you to predict the future, judge the present and be the change you want to see in the world by analysing what has gone before in order to understand the modern world. After the tumultuous events of the election of Trump, the vote for Brexit and the ongoing political activism, history stands as a bridge between what has happened with what can still be changed today. Our study of history is alive to the idea of making it relevant and powerful to be used by our students in becoming citizens not only of Britain but of the world.

In our choice of OCR as exam board we hope to harness the power of British political study through looking at Churchill and Britain 1930-1997 (Y113), analysing the reasons for key political shifts and changes through the complex difference in society across the period and the rise of young people and youth culture. By studying The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon (Y213) we hold a mirror to revolutionary movements and inequalities in today's world and assess the responses to them at the time, as well as plumbing the depths of personal monarchy and reactions to financial crises in a society that became used to them. .

In Year 13 we are pleased to offer a chance at a Personal Study in Y100, the opportunity for students to embrace a passion they have in History and, provided we can offer support and expertise, to research and write their own study of that passion. We do offer supported studies of Nazi Germany but not of the type known in Year 11, we look behind the curtain and study the chaos within. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we offer a study of Russia and its Rulers (Y318) that distils the concepts of leadership, autocracy, democracy and socialism into a case study of how peoples, politics, nationalism and economics whirl to produce change and challenge.

In this way, the History Department will prepare you not only for examinations but to take your place as the movers and shakers of tomorrow, as commanders of your own destinies and as proud Sixth Form students with your own defensible opinions, ideas and dreams!

Entry Requirements:

5 GCSES 4-9 or A*-C to include Maths and English Lang or Lit Grade 5 + GCSE History Grade 4 desirable

Where can History take me?

Soviet Premier Khrushchev said 'Historians are dangerous people' and the department is keen to live up to this! We are, of course, everywhere, and your skills can take you anywhere - law, business, media, journalism, politics and commerce.

If you have any questions or queries relating to the History curriculum please email headofhumanities@ecclesbourne.derbyshire.sch.uk for more information.