History

Year Group

Term

Autumn 1

Autumn 2

Spring 1

Spring 2

Summer 1

Summer 2

Topic

Invaders and Settlers

Breadth Study

The Normans

Depth Study

Medieval Power

King John & the Magna Carta

The Black Death and the Peasants Revolt

Ming China & Islamic Empires

The Mughal Dynasty

Year 7

Knowledge - what do they need to understand?

By the end of this topic, students should have grasped a broad understanding of the four different invading groups (Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings). Within each group, they will understand how they lived, how society was organised, religion and the treatment of women. This is designed as a breadth study, for them to understand the diverse nature of Britain from 500 BC to 1,000 AD. 

By the end of the topic, students should have gained a depth of knowledge of the Norman conquest. This has an overall coverage on the narrative of the events and the consequences for England. 

This topic has a wide chronological coverage, focusing on the power of the monarch and the church. Students should also understand the conflict between the major world religions through the crusades. 

This topic takes a from below approach focusing on everyday people in the medieval period, contrasting the previous topic. The students will focus on the beliefs of ordinary people and how crisis events affected them. 

This topic introduces international cultures to year 7. The topic is divided between China and the Middle East. Students should understand what life was like for people in these regions during this time and the developments of the dynasties. 

This is a depth study of the Mughal dynasty. The topic often has particular resonance to the demographic of the school, with significant interest in the topic. By the end of the topic, students should understand the factors which lead to the rise and fall of the Mughal dynasty. 

Skills - what will they do?

Second Order Concepts

Similarity and difference. 

This unit will introduce this concept to the students. They will assess the similarity and differences of culture between the four groups using the criteria. 

Consequence

Students will measure the consequences of the Norman conquest using three set criteria - land, government and society. 

Significance

Students will be introduced to the three R’s of significance and use these as a metric for the significance of the Magna Carta. 

Cause: how actions contribute towards events. Focussing on short and long term causes. 

Interpretations & Similarly and Difference

Students will determine which interpretations they agree with the most concerning the fall of the Islamic Caliphate. 

Change & Continuity

Students will assess what changed over time in the Mughal Dynasty. 

Conceptual understanding - what is the overall enquiry? 

What was similar and different in Britain from the Cutthroat Celts to the Slimy Saxons?

The overall enquiry is: Did the Normans ‘bring a truckload of trouble’, changing society for the people of England?

Was the Church more powerful than the King in the Middle Ages?

What were people's beliefs, ideas and attitudes during the Middle Ages

How do historians view the Ming dynasty? 

How do historians view the Islamic Caliphate? 

“How did the Mughal Empire Rise and Fall?”

Substantive concepts

Migration, identity, invasion, change, control, culture

Power, control, kingship

Power, control, kingship

Crisis, ideas

Empire, rise and fall of an Empire

Empire, descendants, legacies

Year 8

Topic

The Tudors

Depth Study

The Stuarts & the Civil War

Breadth Study

The Industrial Revolution

The French Revolution

Africa & the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Local Study: Hounslow

Knowledge - what do they need to understand?

This is a depth study of the Tudor dynasty. By the end of the topic students should know how the monarchs of the era managed religious turbulence and how that affected future events. 

This is a breadth study covering the start of the Stuart era and the English Civil war. By the end of the unit, students should understand the complexity of power between the monarch and the government. 

This topic should provide pupils with an understanding of the modern world – how industrialisation and urbanisation built the country today. 

This topic provides students with an understanding of the events which led to revolution. They should be able to understand the context in which Franch removed their monarch and became a republic. 

Students should understand the context of African countries prior to European interaction of the slave trade. Pupils should understand the experiences of enslaved people and what led to the abolition. 

The local study provides students with a 1,000 year chronology of Hounslow. They should understand how events in the past shape our current communities. 

Skills - what will they do?

Second Order Concepts

Similarity and Difference

Students will be using similarity and difference as a vehicle to measure to changes in monarchy and the religious upheaval of each new king or queen of the era. 

Interpretations

Students should assess what is different in interpretations about Oliver Cromwell. 

Change and Continuity 

Students will assess the nature in which people's lives, industry and the country changed because of the industrial revolution. 

Cause and Consequence

A multi-cause approach, building on long and short term causes from year 7, to incorporate more complicated and wider causes into events. 

Significance

Students will measure which event was the most significant in the abolition of slavery. 

Change and Continuity

Students will apply the concepts of change and continuity to their own locality and community. This will change from year 7 as it will be applied to a contemporary context. 

Conceptual understanding - what is the overall enquiry? 

Did the Tudors change England forever? 

The ‘curse of Cromwell’ – why do Historians argue over Oliver Cromwell? 

How did the Industrial Revolution change the lives of ordinary people? 

How did the narrative of the French Revolution affect the world?

How can we remember the lives of enslaved people? 

How has Hounslow changed throughout time? 

Substantive concepts

Monarchy, gender, religion

Monarchy, power, government

change, from below

Revolution, monarchy, abolition, society

resistance, empire

Society, migration

Year 9

Topic

World War I & Suffrage

The Russian Revolution

The rise of Nazi Germany & The Holocaust

World War II

India and the British Empire

Start of GCSE content

Knowledge - what do they need to understand?

Students should understand the fundamental causes of WWI and the causes of suffrage leading to the enfranchisement of women. 

This topic covers the Russian Revolution and the subsequent leadership of Stalin. Students should know how these events shaped Russia for the 20th Century. 

This  topic is split in two, the rise of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Students should understand the events which led to the Nazi party gaining power. 

Additionally, students should know what the holocaust was and learn stories of those affected. 

Students should know the major events of WWII and what led to the conclusion of the war. They should know how the end of the war affected the rest of the world. 

By the end of the topic students should know the geographical and political effects of partition. 

N/A

Skills - what will they do?

Second Order Concepts

Cause: combining skills from year 7 and 8, through long, short and factors for caution. In addition, students will also learn about trigger causes and which cause is the most significant. 

Interpretations 

Students will analyse why and how historians form different interpretations on events. This will build up on analyse from year 7 and 8. 

Sources & Change and Continuity

Students will build on their source skills, analysing how sources can illustrate events. 

Significance

Students will utilise their knowledge and practice of using the 3 R’s to measure significance but placing it in wider, global significance. 

Consequences

Students will measure consequences from a longer and contemporary perspective compared to year 7 and 8. 

N/A

Conceptual understanding - what is the overall enquiry? 

Did the world go to war by ‘accident’ or ‘choice’ in 1914? 

Why did women get the vote?

How have Historians viewed the change in Russian governance from 1917-1945?

How do sources show Hitler’s rise to power? 

How can we tell the stories of those affected by the Holocaust?

How did the events of WWII shape the world in the 20th century? 

How did the events of partition shape modern India, Pakistan and the UK? 

N/A

Substantive concepts

Nationalism, leadership, propaganda

Gender, Feminism

Power, control, change, revolution

Dictatorship, control

Warfare

Empire

N/A