History

The Humanities AoLE at Llanishen High School seeks to awaken a sense of wonder, fire the imagination and inspire learners to grow in knowledge, understanding and wisdom.

At KS3, students study Humanities in an integrated approach. The subjects of Geography, History, PRE, Business Studies and Social Studies are all incorporated into the schemes of learning. The units allow students to explore the most important challenges facing humanity, including sustainability and social change (the way we treat others and the world around us), and help to develop the skills needed to interpret and articulate the past and the present. Humanities students will be encouraged to develop an identity in space and time, and an appreciation of the human experience in relation to an understanding of the development of the North Cardiff locality, Wales, the UK, Europe and the wider world, and of the diverse cultures that share and shape these places (Cynefin).

In Year 7, students will gain an understanding the following key concepts:

• Diversity in Cardiff
• Climate Change
• Disease
• Rise of Technology
• Exploration and Discovery

By the end of KS3 students will be able to use enquiry skills to interpret a range of evidence to uncover truths and express their own informed viewpoint on contentious issues. Opportunities are given to discuss and reflect on their own perspectives and those of others on a range of issues to enable them to build their mental, emotional and spiritual well-being; becoming confident, resilient, healthy and ambitious learners. Students will also use a wide range of recent and historic events to reflect on humanity’s rights and responsibilities and consider the ethical implications of people’s actions upon different sectors of society including minority groups within and outside of our school community.

We want to empower students to be active global citizens, as the humanities disciplines are inherent within and intrinsic to all the critical issues that concern our society today. We want our students to be agents for change in the 21st Century and imagine a range of possible futures that they themselves have the power to shape. We hope that the learning experiences will help students appreciate the extent to which they are part of a wider international community, fostering a sense of belonging that can encourage them to contribute positively to the school and local communities. We want them to leave KS3 with a range of skills, which will equip them to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century world and workplace. Students will explore the positive changes that they can make to the natural and human world and consider how they can begin to tackle global issues at a local and individual scale. Such critical engagement with local, national and global challenges and opportunities past and present will help learners become enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work.

These experiences will help develop learners’ resilience, build independence, and increase self-confidence and self-esteem. This will support the development of healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

While the new Year 8 curriculum is in development, the legacy curriculum will continue at least in part. The focus in on modern Wales, Britain and the wider world.

• The rise and fall of the British Empire (with a particular focus on Africa and India)
• The Transatlantic Slave Trade
• The Industrial Revolution in South Wales
• The Great War 1914-18
• The Second World War 1939-45

Y9: Crime and Punishment in Engalnd and Wales since 1500

• The causes & nature of crimes
• Enforcing law and order and combatting crime
• Attitudes to and methods of punishment
• Historic site: Nineteenth century Merthyr Tydfil

Y10: South Africa 1948-94

• The apartheid system
• The impact of apartheid on the people of South Africa
• Opposition to apartheid inside South Africa
• Key individuals in South Africa politics
• International opposition to apartheid
• PW Botha’s reforms
  The end of apartheid

NEA/Coursework
Two coursework essays are prepared at the end of Y10 and start of Y11. Our students currently write on:

• The rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, 1919-33
• How the Nazis changed Germany 1933-39

Y11: DEPRESSION WAR AND RECOVERY, WALES AND ENGLAND 1930-51

• Causes of the Great Depression c.1930-2
• Life during the Great Depression c.1930-35
• Preparations for WW2 c.1936-9
• Life During Wartime: the Home Front 1939-45
• Keeping Up Morale: media and propaganda 1939-45
• Life After the War: the Labour Government of 1945-51

Students typically attempt South Africa 1948-94 in the Summer Term of Y10, with an option to resit a year later. Coursework is started following the exam and completed by Autumn half term Y11. The remaining two papers are attempted at the end of Y11.

AS/Y12 – Paper 1: Europe in an Age of Conflict and Cooperation, 1890-1990 (period study)

• International Relations 1890-1939: causes of WW1 and WW2
• Italy 1918-45: the rise and fall of Mussolini and Fascism
• Germany 1918-45: Weimar and Nazi Germany
• Russia 1905-45: the fall of Tsarism, the Revolutions of 1917, Soviet communism under Lenin and Stalin
• International Relations 1945-90: Cold War, the EEC

Paper 2: The Mid-Tudor Crisis in Wales and England, c.1529-70 (depth study)

• Wales and the ‘Acts of Union’
• The Reformations of Henry VIII and Edward VI
• Politics: the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the regencies of Somerset and Northumberland
• Rebellion, Protest and Disorder: The pilgrimage of Grace 1536-7, The Western and Kett’s Rebellions of 1549
• Interpretations: traditionalist, revisionist and contemporary takes on this history

A2/Y13 – Paper 3: The USA c.1890-1990

• The Struggle for Civil Rights: changing attitudes 1890-1945, the Civil Rights campaigns 1945-68, Consequences of the Civil Rights Movement 1968-90, What changed?
• Making of a Superpower 1890-1990: Change and Continuity in US Foreign Policy, WW2 and the Cold War 1941-75, Détente and the end of Cold War 1975-90, Similarity and Difference 1890-1990

Paper 4: The Mid-Tudor Crisis c. 1553-70

• Social and Economic Developments in England and Wales: poverty & unrest, the advance of the Welsh gentry after the Acts of Union, towns trade and industry
• Mary Tudor 1553-8: the rebellion of 1553 against Lady Jane Grey, the Spanish marriage, Wyatt’s Rebellion 1554, factional conflict in government, restoring Catholicism, religious persecution
• The Elizabethan Religious Settlement: Puritanism, Catholics and the Rebellion of the Northern Earls 1569

Paper 5: NEA/Coursework essay

A 4000 word essay. Students can write on the development of an historical debate or controversy from any period of their choice (except the Tudor depth study).

For the next three years students who do not wish to formulate their own study can write on Genghis Khan, the Wars of the Roses, the League of Nations, or the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

A level historians have the opportunity to participate in a field trip to site of Tudor historical interest. Hampton Court Palace in West London alternates every other year with either the Tower of London, or the Mary Rose Museum and Southsea Castle in Portsmouth.

Students in Year 12 have the opportunity to participate in the Lessons From Auschwitz programme run by the Holocaust Educational Trust.