HISTORY
Aims The course aims to produce thoughtful, inquisitive and well-informed students with powers of critical analysis. These are essential to understanding and interpreting the modern world in terms of relationships between countries, the difficulties of maintaining and developing peace and the impact of this on the development of music, literature and living conditions.
Skills The study of history enables students to develop the ability to communicate ideas fluently, clearly and confidently, verbally and in writing. Students will be able to critically analyse texts, information and argument to offer informed and reasoned arguments in order to make nuanced judgements. Conducting research using different types of tools and sources, gathering, sifting, interpreting, analysing and organising information is essential to developing in-depth historical knowledge. Students develop an open-minded approach to the potential usefulness of different perspectives and to the insights that may be offered by the use of different disciplines; the willingness to adopt, where appropriate, a multi-disciplinary approach to historical problem-solving.
Content The course is designed to give an understanding of the main events of 20th and early 21st Century world history and to develop the written skills of analysis, explanation and evaluation.
The main topics on international relations will include, the formation and collapse of the League of Nations, the causes of the Second World War, and the formation and role of the United Nations until 2011 including their role in disputes in areas such as Korea, Palestine and Mozambique and the impact of agencies such as the WHO and UNICEF.
There will be in-depth studies on the USA 1919-41 and the civil rights movement in the USA 1945-74 as well as South Africa 1948-94, ensuring an understanding of how the political, economic and social changes in these periods impacted the culture of a country and the wider world for generations.
Enrichment Beyond GCSE, as well as helping to produce thoughtful, well-informed, critical students, the IGCSE course is an excellent preparation for the study of IB History, whether students wish to study the Medieval or the 19th and 20th Century options.
There is a study trip to Washington, Philadelphia and New York for Year 10 students; this complements the work on the US depth study as well as US involvement in WW1, WW2 and the Cold War.
Our Middle School History Society discusses and develops issues raised as part of the taught curriculum looking at content and concepts that place the course in a wider historical timeline.
38 THE MIDDLE SCHOOL | AT SEVENOAKS