History

 Head of Department:  Mr T Sharkey

History in the 1st - 3rd years

All girls have three periods of History each week, taught in tutor groups. In the first three years the following topics are covered:

1st Year: Introduction to course: What is History? Medieval Realms - a study of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance.
2nd Year: Tudor and Stuart Britain, Religious Conflict and the Civil War. The French Revolution.
3rd Year: Black People of America. The Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions, Social Change in Nineteenth Century Britain and the Growth of Empire. The First World War.

 

GCSE History (Edexcel Examinations Board)

"A man who does not know his past is forever a child." - Cicero

The GCSE History course aims to develop a knowledge and understanding of the concepts and ideas essential for an intelligent citizenship of the modern world. The girls study aspects of the social, economic and political history of the twentieth century, including: the Russian Revolution, the Second World War, USA after the war and the history of China in the twentieth century.

Coursework is on women's struggle for the vote and Jack the Ripper and 19th Century crime and punishment.

The course develops skills in reading, extended writing, critical analysis of a wide range of source material and the development of logical argument. Assessment is by two written examination papers, which test knowledge of course content and skills, and two coursework assignments. Coursework is worth 25% of the final mark, while 75% is allocated to the written examinations.

 

A LEVEL HISTORY

Edexcel New Syllabus – First Exam in 2009 (AS) and 2010 (A2)

If you enjoy thinking for yourself, reading to learn more about the topics being studied in class, and then developing an opinion of your own, you are likely to enjoy history.  It develops the skills of analysis and argument and combines well with other Arts subjects. It is especially liked by Law departments.  However it also complements other A levels, including Sciences.  It is respected as an academic subject and is also very interesting!
 

AS level (1st year) A2 level (2nd year)

Unit 1: Divisions in China and the U.S., 1900-68

 Learn about how democracy failed in China after the Revolution of 1911, and the eventual triumph of Maoist Communism. Compare this with the challenges to democracy in America posed by the treatment of Black and other ethnic minorities

Unit 3:  The era of Appeasement, Europe between the wars, 1919-39

Learn about how western European democracies failed to prevent a dictatorship (Hitler’s Germany) from imposing tyranny upon large parts of Europe, and through Appeasement of the dictator, also failed to preserve peace. An example of what can happen when democracy fails to police dictatorship.   

Unit 2: Representation and Parliamentary Reform 1830-188           

The study of a period in British history when the country came close to revolution, but chose to develop democracy instead.

Unit 4: Native Americans and Colonists, New Worlds For All, 1607-1764         

Learn about the extraordinary clash of cultures between Native Americans and European colonists in pre-Revolutionary America in  war and peace, through trade, disease, religion and astonishing inter-racial contact.              

This was a story that explains the birth of the world’s most powerful democracy.


SKILLS

The course teaches you how to write a persuasive argument in an essay.  It teaches you how to analyse sources both from contemporaries and from historians.  Many of these skills can be transferred to other areas of life.  The history department is very well stocked with books, videos and DVDs. And what better an opportunity could there be than to centre our studies on an excursion to recently desegregated Virginia – to Jamestown where it all began 400 years ago; to Yorktown and the end of colonialism, and to Williamsburg, home to some of the best resources in the world on our topics? Ever wondered what life would be like as a student at an American university? A level History offers the opportunity to spend a week at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, North America's third oldest university (1693).

 

St George's School, Wells Lane, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7DZ  Telephone: 01344 629900
E-mail:
office@stgeorges-ascot.org.uk