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Blackfen School for Girls

Blackfen School for Girls

Raising aspirations - releasing potential

History A Level

The course offers history students a good range of historical knowledge encompassing both early modern and modern history in consideration of department expertise, experience and resources.

Year 12                                                                                                                

 Exam board: Edexcel 8HIO1

Route B: Religion and the State in Early Modern Europe

Students taking Route B will study:

  • Paper 1, Option 1B: England, 1509-1603: authority, nation and religion

AND

  • Paper 2, Option 2B.1: Luther and the German Reformation, c1515-55

 

Paper 1, Option 1B: England, 1509-1603: authority, nation and religion: This option comprises a study in breadth in which students will learn about the key political, social and economic features of Tudor England from the accession of Henry VIII to the death of Elizabeth I, an era of decisive change for the English state and church. The focus of study is on developments and changes over a broad timescale and so the content is presented as themes spanning a significant duration: 1509–1588. This option also contains a study in depth of historical interpretations on a broad question that is contextualised by, and runs on from, the themes: whether there was a general crisis of government in the last years of Elizabeth I’s reign, 1589–1603.

Paper 2, Option 2B: Luther and the German Reformation, c1515-55: This option comprises a study in depth of Luther’s challenge to the Catholic Church, the development of a separate Lutheran Church within the German states, and the response of Empire and the papacy to this challenge to 1555. This would cause a fracture in the religious unity of western Christianity, which would, in time, spread through Europe and beyond. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of Luther’s religious protests and the involvement of secular and religious leaders in driving, and resisting, religious and political change in the German states in this period.

Route H: Democracies in change: Britain and the USA in the twentieth century – Overview

Students taking Route H will study:

  • Paper 1, Option 1H: Britain transformed, 1918–97

AND

  • Paper 2, Option 2H.1: The USA, 1920-55: Boom, bust and recovery

Paper 1, Option 1H: Britain transformed, 1918–97: This option comprises a stud in breadth, in which students will learn about the extent to which Britain was transformed politically, socially, economically and culturally in the years 1918–79.  They will consider responses to the challenges of war, fluctuations in the economy, technological advancement and the desire for greater social equality.  The focus of study is on developments and changes over a broad timescale and so the content is presented as themes spanning a significant duration: 1918–79. This option also contains a study in depth of historical interpretations on a broad question, which is contextualised by, and runs on from, the themes: what impact Thatcher’s governments had on Britain, 1979–97.

Paper 2 Option 2H.1: The USA, 1920-55: Boom, bust and recovery: This option comprises a study in depth of the USA in the years 1920–55, and focuses on key economic, social and cultural changes in the USA in the years c1920–55, the often dramatic nature and pace of change, and the effects of these changes on the lives of the American people. Content covered includes topics such as prohibition, the Harlem Renaissance and the affects of the Wall street Crash and Depression. 

Year 13

Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750: This option comprises two parts: the Aspects in breadth focus on long-term changes and contextualise the Aspects in depth, which focus in detail on key episodes. Together, the breadth and depth topics explore the nature of the witch craze that took hold in the late sixteenth century and the changing attitudes to magic and sorcery that eventually contributed to its decline. Together, students will study the social, economic, political and dimensions of the phenomenon, and the broad intellectual changes that ushered in what is often called the Age of Reason.

Coursework:

Students will be required to form a critical view based on relevant reading on the question, problem or issue. They will also be specifically required to analyse, explain and evaluate the interpretations of three historians.  The coursework will be assessed using a centre-set assignment on the Holocaust.