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Geography

The History department sets high academic standards and achieves strong results in public examinations. In most years it sends one or more students to study history at Oxbridge colleges. The A level course follows the AQA specification. For the AS course students study units on Germany and Russia, 1870-1914, and England, 1529-47, the Struggle for Control of the Church. No early modules are taken. The two exams are taken in June of the Lower Sixth. A2 students continue their study of Tudor Britain with a unit on The Triumph of Elizabeth, 1547-1603, which is examined in June. Unit 4 is a compulsory Historical Enquiry, a piece of extended research, to be submitted at the commencement of the Summer term (length 3000 words, plus a source appreciation survey of 500 words). This is completed within the study of an issue within a one hundred year context. We teach a course on Anti-Semitism, Hitler and the German People, 1848-1945, following which students research and write up their essays, under the supervision of their teacher. The Historical Enquiry is a good preparation for university, and is worth 20% of the A level marks (40% of A2).

GCSE students study International Relations, 1919-39 with Depth Studies on America, 1919-41 and Britain 1890-1918. The current coursework on the Western Front, 1914-18, is completed in the Autumn term of the Fifth form. It is due to be replaced with a Controlled Test completed in the classroom in 2010, which will be on a similar issue. In both cases, this element is worth 25% of the marks.

History is compulsory in the first three years. First formers study themes from 'Medieval Realms: Britain, 1066-1485'. Second formers study aspects of The Making of the United Kingdom, 1485-1750 and Trade, Industry and Expansion, 1750-1900. The Third form is devoted to study of the twentieth century, where we aim to avoid overlap with the GCSE course. The department runs several study visits: the First World War Battlefields trip to Ypres and the Somme for GCSE students (an optional residential visit); a day visit  to Quarry Bank cotton mill at Styal Bank, Cheshire for Second formers; visits to Berlin (with the German department), and to Auschwitz and Krakow, for the Lower and Upper Sixth (an optional residential visit); in 2009, for the first time, there was a visit to Bavaria to sites associated with Hitler, for the Third and Fourth Years.