Medicine through time:
Students build on the Y7 Medieval topic by examining ideas of cause of disease and illness including Galen and the 4 humours, approaches to the prevention and treatment including the role of the barber-surgeon and the case study of the Black Death. This provides the starting point for the thematic study of medicine to understand change and continuity over a long period of time. Students will develop their knowledge of key vocabulary to show a detailed picture of the period ensuring they can explain the importance of medical knowledge on the period. The topic naturally moves on to the Renaissance again building on prior knowledge from Y7. The students will understand how knowledge improved and science started to challenge the power of the Church. Students deploy their knowledge with a variety of tasks to examine change and continuity, similarity and difference, causation to reach substantiated conclusions.
The topic moves on to the industrial period building on prior knowledge from Y8. Here students develop their contextual knowledge of the industrial time period with the medicine topic. Students are becoming more independent and making their own links between the time periods. The importance of the contextual picture is paramount and the students are encouraged to complete additional reading and research to help build up their big picture of medicine.
The unit ends with the modern topic whereby students gain knowledge and understanding of advances in medical knowledge and treatment. Students will build on their understanding of the role of the government as it takes a proactive role including recent campaigns to improve health. This will link to the GCSE Science curriculum where in Y10 they study the topics of Communicable diseases and preventing and treating diseases. At this stage students will need to discuss all of the key concepts across the time period ensuring a good understanding and careful selection of keywords, individuals and events. Extended writing will be sophisticated, showing a good understanding of question types and the relevant skills required.
The Historical Environment: The British sector of the Western Front.
This topic links the historical environment of the Western Front in WW1 with the medicine topic. Students will be encouraged to work independently and actively question the historical environment and the primary evidence used to gain and understanding of the medical issues within the trenches in WW1. This topic will be developed further in the English curriculum when they study WW1 poetry in Y10. Students deploy their KS3 knowledge to demonstrate a secure understanding of the British sector of the Western Front. Students will also have the ability to visit the Western Front during either Y9 or 10 which has been beneficial to allow a sense of empathy with the period.
Early Elizabethan England 1558-1588
Students will build on the Y7 Tudor topic and deepen their knowledge to understand the complexities of life in Early Elizabethan England. We have chosen EEE as our British depth study because we believe it is important to understand the importance of Elizabeth as a notable female monarch who lived during a turbulent period of religious challenge. During Elizabeth’s reign there were significant issues involving religion, politics and international relations which have helped to shape the modern world. This also links to the English curriculum when they study Shakespeare in both KS3 and 4. Students will develop the skills of identifying and describing key features of the period, examine causation/change & continuity/causation/significance/consequence through detailed pieces of extended writing. All writing styles will be modelled with scaffolding used to support students as required.
American West 1835-1895
Here we will build on the contextual picture created in Y8 with the Industrial Revolution and Slavery topics. We have chosen American West as our depth study because we have the opportunity to look at the wider world. The development of America allows us to examine cultural diversity through the lifestyle of the Native American peoples and the impact the settlers had upon America. Students will understand the unfolding narrative of substantial developments showing how America changed socially, culturally and politically. Students will develop the skills of consequence, significance and historical narratives. All of the writing styles will be modelled and independent writing will be supported using appropriate writing frames.
Weimar & Nazi Germany 1919-39
We have chosen Weimar & Nazi Germany as our modern depth study because the topic remains popular amongst students who regularly say they look forward to studying fascism. Students develop a natural curiosity surrounding Nazi Germany following on from Hitler’s place in popular culture and as a direct result of the Y8 study into the 20th century. Students will develop significant source handling skills including the analysis and evaluation of contemporary sources and later interpretations, critically question a range of evidence to reach substantiated conclusions, discuss reasons why interpretations differ and evaluate interpretations using their own knowledge. All of the writing styles will be modelled and scaffolding used to support students as required, including the use of acronyms to assist with the analysis of source utility.
