History Teaching Team: Mrs C. May-Smith – Faculty Leader of Humanities | E-Mail
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History Revision
Revision classes available Thursday night from 2.45-4.00pm every Thursday and Friday night and Thursday lunchtimes.
Use BBC GCSE Bitesize Revision alongside your course notes.
Use revision guides and specifications your teacher has given you.
Use the past papers on the WJEC website to test your knowledge but be aware that our exam has a slightly different structure as its new.
If you want to buy a revision guide choose My Revision Notes WJEC GCSE History by R. Paul Evans ISBN: 978-1444158571 it costs around £7. You can also get this through itunes
Use the answer structure sheet to help you know what the examiner is looking for from each type of question.
The following YouTube Channel has a lot of videos by teachers specifically on each of our WJEC questions.
Remember we are studying Germany 1929-1947, USA 1910-1929 and USA 1929-2000.
Teacher in my Pocket – YouTube
If you are stuck - Ask the History team for HELP!
Welcome to Humanities
The Humanities Faculty at Cantell Maths and Computing College consists of a hard working, well-qualified and very friendly group of teachers who want the Humanities subjects to be seen as lively and exciting. We are proud of the way we work together as a team, sharing good practice and writing schemes of work together in departments and supporting each other. We aspire to be at the forefront of developing the use of new teaching and learning strategies to enhance student progress. This combines to make the Humanities Faculty a very stimulating and enjoyable place to work and learn.
The Humanities Faculty comprises Religious Education, Geography, History, Classical Civilisation and Latin. Individual subjects are important in their own right, but the faculty identity is developing into a strong one.
The different members of the Faculty offer a wide range of skills, interests and experiences. Some staff teach in more than one subject area of the Faculty. The range of interests and personalities in the Humanities team ensure that we enjoy a stimulating and lively working atmosphere.
“It is not just a matter of helping students to obtain qualifications and a career with some emotional value added on, but of helping them to find passions and enthusiasms, drawing on their inner resources so that they have these to rely on whatever life brings, nurturing a sense of purpose and motivating a vision”.
Ofsted Inspector
In the Humanities Faculty, we aim to develop an enthusiastic, progressive and challenging learning environment for all students. We shall do this by providing interesting and stimulating lessons using a range of engaging teaching and learning styles, both inside and outside the classroom. We shall enable students to investigate and understand the world’s past and present, in order to make them better citizens and decision-makers for the future.
We aim to develop learners who have a sense of awe and wonder about the natural world around us; tolerance and support for others; and the ability to understand and celebrate the incredibly rich cultural and ethnic diversity of our fantastic school community and the wider world around us.
We aim todevelop and extend students’ understanding of the world and its diversity; make a significant contribution to students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development; help students to understand their roots as individuals and as members of larger social groups, whatever their ethnic and cultural background; help students to come to terms with their own hopes, fears, beliefs and achievements by seeing them in the wider context of the hopes, fears, beliefs and achievements of other people, past and present.
The Humanities Faculty Vision
To be an Outstanding Faculty for Teaching and Learning.
To encourage lifelong learning throughout the Faculty (students & staff).
To provide a relevant and engaging curriculum to meet the needs of all students.
To achieve and celebrate progression as well as attainment for all students.
To be secure in our judgements of our students’ progression and attainment.
To instil engagement, participation and curiosity at the heart of everything we do so that learning extends beyond the classroom.
To foster a climate of support and challenge across the Faculty (staff and students) to ensure that together everyone achieves more
We strive to help students to achieve their full potential and as a Faculty we take pride in the progress the school continues to make.
Mrs Claire May-Smith
Faculty Leader for Humanities
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Subject Overview:
History: Wherever you look in society historians are playing a crucial role, be it in politics, entertainment or business. This is because History provides you with many of the key skills necessary to be successful in life.
"History is made by people. When you understand people, you can live a full life"
Charles Miller Smith – Chairman of ICI
History is about looking at information and using information in a critical way. In an age of information this is the kind of skill that is most desired, and History is the best way to develop this skill. You will be taught to evaluate and analyse information and how to understand why events happen.
In the History Department all the teachers have a passion for their subject which we hope we pass on to our students. We believe that it is every young person’s right to have a knowledge of the past, as a foundation of the contemporary world. A sense of history enables young people to locate themselves and to appreciate their inherited culture and language.
"Historians are dangerous people. They are capable of changing everything!"
At KS3, History is focussed around ‘Big Questions’. Some examples are; Why did William win the Battle of Hastings? Did everyone benefit from the British Empire? What was life like for a soldier in WW1? Was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima justified? All these questions and many more are explored in KS3 History.
At KS4, we study WJEC’s Modern World Specification A GCSE. There is a Controlled Assessment modules on World War One or Two as well as examined units on The USA: a nation of contrast, 1910-29; the development of the USA 1929-2000 and Germany in transition, 1929-47. During the teaching of these modules we cover questions such as; how and why did Hitler become appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933? Was the 1920s a decade of organised crime and corruption? And why was it difficult for Black Americans to gain equal rights in the USA in the 1950s and 60s?
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Learning Experience:
We believe that students across the key stages will learn most when their interest and imagination is captured and when they can see how the past affects their world. There is a strong tradition of varied teaching and learning styles in the department. We use role play, debate, research and self-supported study, student presentations, graphic and ICT work. We employ a wide variety of resources, never relying on a single textbook. Instead we make use of a very large resource bank, created by the department, and DVD and website material, to complement the use of published texts.
History KS3: Students at KS3 get four fifty minute lessons a fortnight in year 8 this is part of 8 Humanities lessons a fortnight.
History GCSE: This course is currently being offered in two ways. Firstly, it’s run as a two year course with three lessons a week in the traditional way. We also offer the same course as a one year GCSE; this means that students attend six lessons of History a week resulting in a fast paced exciting course. During the History GCSE course, students complete two Controlled Assessments; these count for 25% and currently the topics are World War One or World War Two. Students on a two year course sit an exam at the end of year 10 on the USA 1910-29 and the USA 1929-2000. They complete their exams on Nazi Germany and Controlled Assessment at the end of year 11. However, students on a one year course, sit exams on the same topics as those on the two year course but at the end of their one year of study.
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Homework and additional learning:
At KS3, students are set smaller pieces that can extend their classroom learning or extended project home works that link to the topic being studied for a six week period. Students are expected to manage their own time and learn to meet the deadlines set for the end of the unit of study. Projects range from building models of castles in year 8 and trenches in year 9 to research for class assessments or completing topic specific
At KS4, students are set weekly homework tasks. These take the nature of exam questions, research, newspaper reports, preparation for guided learning and creating first person accounts which encourage the students to put themselves in the place of historical characters. These are graded in accordance with GCSE grades so that students can see where they are in their learning, and where they need to go to improve.
KS3 and KS4 enrichment reading lists can be found on the website. These lists give advice on fiction and non-fiction books that students may find interesting in relation to the topics they are studying.
Assessment:
Written and oral responses to class work and homework; timed essays, enquiries and end of topic assessments using National Curriculum levels.
Course Outline:
Year 7 Units:
Please refer to the Year 7 area of the website
Year 8 Units:
Sets 1 to 3 study:
The Normans, The Spanish Armada, The Civil War, The Protectorate Vs The Restoration, Empire and Slavery, The Industrial Revolution.
Sets 4 to 8 study:
Living Conditions, Crime and Punishment, Food through time, Fun through the ages, Medicine through time, and Leadership through time.
Year 9 Units:
All students study; Titanic, A soldiers life in the trenches during WW1, Nazi Germany, The events of WW2, The Cold War, Civil Rights and conspiracy theories of 20th Century America.
Student Groupings:
Set according to their performance in all 3 Humanities subjects and settings are reviewed at half termly intervals.
Time Allocation: Four fifty minute lessons a fortnight.
History (1 or 2 Year Course)
GCSE - Grades A*-G
What do students study and how do they study?
25% Controlled Assessment and 75% Exam.
We study WJEC modern World route A. We cover two depth studies these are USA 1910 to 1929 and Nazi Germany 1929-1947. We also study one thematic unit the USA 1929 to 2000.
In year 10, students study the USA 1910 to 1929. This covers issues of immigration in to America, the ideas of religious fundamentalism in the bible belt states, the persecution of Black Americans, prohibition, gangsters such as Al Capone, the development of the Jazz culture, silent movies and the ‘Flapper’. The thematic study covering the USA from 1929 to 1990 is also studied in year 10. This takes us from the 'Roaring Twenties' to the Wall Street Crash, through the Depression and onto the campaign for Black Civil Rights and the reactions of the KKK. We look at the Vietnam War and then the Space Race, Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War.
In year 11, students start the year by completing their controlled assessment.
They then go onto study Germany from 1919 to 1945. This focuses on Hitler's rise to power and the development of the Third Reich. We study how Nazi policies, persecution and propaganda affected the German people.
In the one year course the content of the course is the same but students see their teacher for 6 lessons a week instead of 3. Also in the one year course, the controlled assessment is done first, then Nazi Germany. This is then followed by America 1910-29 and America 1929-2000.
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What coursework is required?
25% Controlled Assessment, completed in the first half term of the one year course or the first term of year 11 on the two year course.
You are required to write two essays for your coursework on World War One or Two. These topics alternate yearly.
First World War Controlled assessment
The lives of women were greatly affected by the First World War? Do you agree or disagree? (800 words)
Does General Haig deserve to be remembered as ‘the butcher of the Somme’? How far do your sources support or contradict this interpretation? ( (1,200 words)
Second World War Controlled assessment
The lives of people on the Home Front were greatly changed by evacuation during World War II. Do you agree or disagree? (800 words)
Some people have the view that the events at Dunkirk in 1940 deserve to be remembered as a triumph for Britain and its people. How far do your sources support or contradict this interpretation? (1,200 words)
It is recommended that the whole research and preparation stage for parts A and B of the controlled assessment should take between 8 and 10 weeks in total. Preparation is mostly done in class under supervision, but there can be some opportunities to work outside and at home at the research and preparation stage.
The teacher can give as much help at the planning and preparation stage as in a normal classroom situation. Some candidates will need more help then others and this will be considered when awarding final levels and marks. The final essays are typed in test conditions. Each exam is marked out of 50, the whole course adds up to 200 marks. It was 108marks last year for a C grade.
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What examinations are there?
Exam: Paper 1 - Nazi Germany & USA 1910-29 (50%) 1 hour each.
Exam: Paper 2 - America 1929-2000 exam (25%) 1 hour.
If on a one year course you will sit all of these exams in June in the order shown above. If you on a two year course, you will sit the 2 papers on America in the June of year 10. You will then sit the Nazi Germany exam in the June of year 11.
We also have a formal mock exam each year as well as regular practice questions/papers in lessons.
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What additional study is expected?
Homework will be set each week as appropriate. Tasks set may include research, worksheets, examination style questions, essays and source-based activities or presentations. Practice essays and exam questions will also be given regularly to assess progress. Revision and controlled assessment after school sessions are also offered on Thursday lunchtimes and after school. Wider reading around the topic studied (either fiction or non fiction) would be advantageous.
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What can students do next?
History allows students to complete a rigorously academic GCSE that is well recognized and respected by all employers, colleges and Universities. To get on any A Level History course, at least five GCSE’s at grade C or above including English Language and History GCSE are needed. Taunton's offers both Modern and Tudor History. Barton Peveril offers Medieval and Early Modern History or Modern History. Possible careers include: law, media, business, archaeology, museum and gallery based work, the police, teaching,
research, the military, management and social work.
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What information is on the VLE?
The course outline; Past papers; Mark schemes; Tips for answering questions; PowerPoint’s; Worksheets; Coursework packs; A discussion forum.
