History
Key Stage 3
At Cumberland School pupils follow the National Curriculum in History, studying Local, British, European and World History.
Pupils start to study History in Year 7, along with Geography and Religious Studies. To reduce the number of teachers pupils are taught by in their first year at secondary school, these three subjects are taught together in Humanities by the same teacher during Year 7.
Pupils learn about England’s past by studying the:
- local history of West Ham
- Medieval Times:
- Norman Conquest
- Castles
- The Feudal System
- Thomas a Becket
- Black Death
In Year 8 pupils move on to study England in Tudor and Stuart times. They specifically look into:
- Henry VIII and the Break with Rome
- The reign of Elizabeth I
- English Civil Wars
Year 8 pupils also learn about the history of the Black Peoples of America, from the slave trade, through emancipation to the Civil Rights Movement.
The topics which pupils study in Year 9 are:
- Change in Britain 1750-1900
- World War One
- The Rise of Dictators in Europe
- World War Two
As they progress through Key Stage 3, increasing their knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past, the pupils also develop their skills in historical interpretation and enquiry.
GCSE
Pupils at Cumberland can take GCSE History. Currently there are 4 GCSE classes. We follow the Edexcel History C (Schools History Project) syllabus. The pupils sit two papers on Germany 1919-1945 and Crime and Punishment in Britain down the ages. They also have to complete two pieces of coursework on Elvis Presley and the Tower of London
ICT
KS3 and GCSE pupils have regular opportunity to use ICT facilities to research and complete their work in History. There are an interactive whiteboard and PCs in each history classroom. Humanities has its own ICT suite and other ICT-equipped classrooms are regularly used for History teaching.
