The Lower School at Sevenoaks LS_book_single_pages | Page 34

The Lower School History course aims to
develop a cultural and historical background
on the changes that occurred in Great Britain,
Europe, Asia and Africa from 1500 to 1900.
We hope to capture students’ imaginations,
enabling them to visualise a significant scene
from the past, and to offer solutions to knotty
historical problems by imagining the reactions
of individuals and groups to an event, based
on understanding of the time in which they
live. The course aims to enable students to
put themselves in the shoes of people from
the past, to see the world as they saw it, and
therefore to perceive the sometimes hard
choices that seemed available to them.
This should engender a spirit of open-
mindedness and an understanding of the
usefulness of different perspectives and of
the insights that may be offered by different
historians. The course encourages critical
analysis in order to formulate a clear and
substantiated argument both in writing
and in discussion.
Year 7 Course
Unit 1:
How far did the British Isles change
between 1066 and 1485?
This includes examining thematic
questions such as:
l Could medieval monarchs do whatever
they wanted?
l What had the biggest impact on daily life:
Religion, Chivalry or Work?
Unit 2:
The Wider Medieval World
Possible examples include: Japan, France,
Middle East and North Africa.
Unit 3:
The Italian Renaissance
Year 8 Course
Unit 1:
How far did the British Isles change
between 1500 and 1900?
This includes examining thematic
questions such as:
l Did living conditions improve form
1500-1900?
l When did the monarch stop being
in charge?
Unit 2:
The causes and course of the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire.
Unit 3:
Britain and the wider world 1500-1900. This
includes looking at exploration, the abolition
of slavery and the industrial revolution.
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the lower SCHOOL | AT SEVENOAKS