History

History is an active, vibrant and stimulating subject at Babington House. Teaching is based upon a successful mixture of content, skills and concepts with emphasis placed upon independent learning. In the classroom a variety of teaching methods are used. The pupils are encouraged to debate, use peer assessment, drama and ICT to deepen their understanding of a topic and focus their analytical thinking.

The aim of the Babington House History Department is to teach skills of analysis, interpretation and communication and to give the pupils understanding about the past. Pupils learn to look for the value in sources and to understand why attitudes of people in the past may be different and presented in different ways. By linking current events with the past, they begin to connect how historical events influence contemporary issues.

At Key Stage 3 all year 7, 8 and 9 pupils study History as part of the curriculum. Courses include: Medieval England, Tudor Monarchs, the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution and the Twentieth Century World. In Year 9 pupils begin studying the GCSE course by looking at Life in Nazi Germany.

GCSE pupils follow the Edexcel GCSE course. This includes the topics Medicine through Time c1200 to the present,  Weimar Germany 1918-39, Elizabethan England 1558-88 and the Cold War.

A-Level History students follow the Edexcel course which includes a study of Russia 1917-1991 and Mao's China in Year 12, in Year 13 students complete coursework on the Holocaust and study Poverty and Public Health in Britain 1780-1939

A-Level Government and Politics students follow the Edexcel course. The first year of the course includes a study of Democracy and Participation in the UK and an analysis of the UK's Parliament and Judiciary, as well as beginning to look at the political ideas of Socialism, Conservatism, Liberalism and Feminism.  In their second year, students study American political systems; Elections, Congress, the President and the Executive; the Supreme Court and race-relations in the USA.