At New River College Medical, we use the Cambridge IGCSE History syllabus as it examines some of the major international issues of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as covering the history of particular regions in more depth. The emphasis is on both historical knowledge and the skills required for historical research.
Learners develop an understanding of the nature of cause and effect, continuity and change, similarity and difference, and find out how to use and understand historical evidence as part of their studies. The Cambridge IGCSE History course will stimulate any learner already interested in the past, providing a basis for further study and encouraging a lifelong interest in the subject.
Click on the link to view our KS4 Humanities curriculum map.
Students will engage in the social science inquiry process. They will assess the significance of people, locations, events and developments, and compare varying perspectives on their historical significance at particular times and places, and from group to group. Building upon this, students will assess the justification for competing historical accounts after investigating points of contention, reliability of sources, and adequacy of evidence. Furthermore, students will be able to explain different perspectives on past or present people, places, issues, and events by considering prevailing norms, values, worldviews, and beliefs, while also making reasoned ethical judgments about controversial actions in the past or present, and assess whether we have a responsibility to respond.
Topics include:
Additional support is provided in conversation with learning assistants in lessons and after-school support/catch-up sessions are offered.
Students study topics that will allow them to gain a GCSE by sitting the Cambridge IGCSE exams or through the OCR Functional Skills History Criteria.
The History curriculum is enriched by trips to the Imperial War Museum and Churchill's War Rooms
Upon entry: baseline activity.
During term: written and verbal formative feedback from the teacher with opportunities to develop work further.
End of each half term: students are graded on subject and skill-specific projects and/or written assessments mimicking the GCSE exams.