At Key Stage 3, students extend and deepen their chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, so that it provides a well-informed context for wider learning. Pupils identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse trends within periods and over long arcs of time. They are taught to use historical terms and concepts in increasingly sophisticated ways. They pursue historically valid enquiries and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response. They learn to understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
At Key Stage 4, students learn more about the history of Britain and that of the wider world. The study of history at GCSE inspires students to deepen their understanding of the people, periods and events studied and enable them to think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, make informed decisions and develop perspective and judgement. This, in turn, prepares them for a role as informed, thoughtful and active citizens. The discipline of history and a knowledge and understanding of the past also helps them to understand their own identity and significant aspects of the world in which they live, and provides them with the basis for further wider learning and study