Subjects > History > KS3 (Year 7/8/9)
Year 7
Pupils start Year 7 by considering the nature of historical study. To begin with they learn how to measure time and divide up the past. They then explore the different types of evidence available and how historians piece the information together to build up a picture of the past.
The first period studied is the Roman Empire. They consider the causes of the growth and decline of the Empire, life in the Empire at its height, and different interpretations of what the town of Pompeii may have looked like.
After Christmas pupils move on to study Medieval Britain between 1066 and 1500. They consider the causes of the Norman invasion, the Battle of Hastings and the surviving evidence about King Harold's death. They investigate whether John was such a bad king, the Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt. In the summer term, to tie in with the fieldwork at Helmsley Castle and Rievaulx Abbey, the pupils conduct research into monasteries and castles.
Year 8
Pupils spend the first half of Year 8 considering Tudor, Stuart and Georgian Britain between 1500 and 1750. They begin by looking at how the United Kingdom was created. They then continue with an investigation into the religious and political changes that happened in the 250 year period. It includes consideration of the Reformation, the Gunpowder Plot and the English Civil War. Pupils are asked to assess the importance of the different changes and the ways in which they have been interpreted by historians. Research skills, using a wide variety of evidence, are developed by investigating life in Tudor England for different social groups. To tie in with later fieldwork at Temple Newsam House, Tudor housing is also looked at.
In the second half of the year pupils look at the changes in building styles over the last 500 years, and apply their findings to an investigation of the town of Snaith.
In the Summer term they will look at Britain between 1750 and 1900. They are asked to identify changes in people's lives and to decide whether they benefited from these. They look at the agricultural and industrial revolutions, working and living conditions in the growing towns, the standard of living and the changes to the political system. Pupils will be asked to draw their own conclusions using the available evidence.
Year 9
The first course in Year 9 is on the Native People of North America. Pupils investigate the lifestyle, attitudes and beliefs of different groups in the 19th Century. They focus particularly on the Plains Indians and their struggle against white settlers.
They then spend the majority of Year 9 looking at the 20th Century world. They begin by investigating the causes of the First World War, and then move on to considering what it must have been like to be involved in such a conflict. The wide ranging consequences of the war are also studied. Life in the 1930's forms the focus for the next area of study. Pupils are asked to consider different interpretations of the period and to draw their own conclusions from the evidence.
Pupils develop their research skills when investigating an area of change in the 20th Century. They can decide what they would like to look into. This is followed by an examination of the rise of Hitler in Germany and the causes of the Second World War. Selected features of the war are considered, including the Holocaust and a debate into the dropping of the atomic bombs. The course is completed by a review of events post 1945.