A Level History
Why Study This Subject?
If you are enthusiastic about studying the past, reflecting upon key historical issues and controversies, then choose History at Greenhead College. We are a vibrant department, willing to engage you in our studies of Medieval, Early Modern and Modern History. If you too are fascinated about the world around us, and wish to gain a deeper understanding of social, political and economic change across these periods, then choose this subject as one of your A Levels. History provides you with the contextual knowledge to make sense of today’s world.
History is a challenging and rigorous A Level that is respected by employers and universities alike and complements most other A Level subjects. Our students do well in the subject with many deciding to study it further at degree level (including Oxbridge). Former students have gone on to pursue careers in law, publishing, journalism, accountancy, the navy, medicine, drama, the civil service, construction, archaeology and education including history teaching.
History is a broad subject that allows you to develop your analysis of historical sources and essay writing skills with greater depth and precision. You will read more widely, enlarging your vocabulary to help form coherent and well-reasoned arguments. Class discussions and debates are integral to our lessons as we are interested in your thoughts and ideas about historical controversies. Our teaching of the subject will involve group work, personal study, role play, quizzes, timed essays, videos, source analysis, podcasts, presentations and an opportunity to attend conferences and visits to historical sights. We currently run trips for our medievalists to either the Loire Valley or Normandy; and for modern students we visit Russia, exploring the key cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The department also offers enrichment opportunities to study topics as diverse as Ancient Greece and Rome, the Vikings, Archaeology, the Tudors, the English Civil War, as well as visiting Auschwitz as part of the Holocaust Trust programme. We are keen to broaden your historical horizons to make the subject interesting and relevant to your lives.
Topics you will cover
We offer courses on Medieval History from the Angevin Kings of England, 1154-1216 and the Crusades, 1071-1204; plus Modern History which entails a study of Russia, Revolutions and Dictatorships 1917-1953 and The British Empire 1857-1967.
We examine the role of influential individuals from the past, ranging from Julius Caesar, Sulla, Pompey, King Henry II, Thomas Becket, Eleanor of Aquitaine, King John, Richard ‘the Lionheart’, Saladin, Henry V, Richard III, James IV, Matthew Hopkins, Karl Marx, Tsar Nicholas II, Rasputin, Lenin, Stalin, David Livingstone, Cecil Rhodes to Gandhi depending upon your choice of study. We consider how their societies shaped them and how they shaped their societies.
Alongside individuals we are interested in explaining historical developments from the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders and its impact on the Muslim world, challenges to royal authority, baronial rebellion and Magna Carta, the collapse of Tsarist Russia and the establishment of the USSR, the impact of world wars on Britain, its Empire and economy and the fall of the British Empire.
In your second year you will complete a personal study, an independently researched extended essay on a 100 year period. We offer 4 options: The Wars of the Roses with an examination of 15th century kingship, warfare and political change which ended with the establishment of the Tudor monarchy; the Fall of the Roman Republic; the Unification of Germany, 1763-1871 and an investigation into the causation of the European Witch-craze, 1560-1660.
Throughout your A Level, you will be fully supported by an enthusiastic department, a wide range of resources including our thorough VLE Moodle site. If you want to be academically challenged and enthused by the study of the past, join us.
Entry Guidelines
Grade 5 in GCSE History and Grade 5 in GCSE English Language.