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History

History is a popular subject choice for pupils both at GCSE and A Level. The subject provides pupils not only with an understanding of the past, but also develops key analytical and evaluative skills essential across the curriculum and to most careers. The department currently comprises of seven teachers, several of whom have other important responsibilities within the school.

Head of History
Mr Nicholas Mills
Teachers
Mr Adam Sibley BA Mr Simon Tait BA Ms Clare Smith Mrs Suzanne Spencer

Resources

The Percival library houses an extensive collection of relevant history books and historical publications, and provides access to various on-line resources. The department's classrooms, primarily situated in the school's central quadrangle, contain supplementary libraries, and the school's intranet site provides an ever-expanding quantity of history material for pupils to access.

Teaching

3rd Form

Pupils are taught a broad curriculum that incorporates many of the defining events of the 20th century, specifically the First World War, the Russian Revolution and the Second World War. This provides a solid platform on which pupils can build should they opt for GCSE History.

GCSE

We follow OCR's Modern World (B) syllabus. The Core component is a study of international relations from the end of the First World War through to the Cold War. Pupils will also study the USA through the 'Roaring '20s', the Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal. The British component looks at social reform before and during the First World War.

A Level

At present we offer pupils at AS level the chance to study the unification of Italy (1848-71) and 19th century British history. For A2, pupils continue their study of British history up to the First World War and undertake an historical enquiry spanning 100 years on Africa and European imperialism.

First World War Battlefields Trip

For the past 11 years, a group of approximately forty Year 10 students and staff have visited battlefield sites and memorials in Belgium and Northern France. The most regular visits have been to the Ypres Salient and the battlefields of the Somme, but many other places have been visited, such as Vimy Ridge, Arras and Verdun. Pupils gain a deep awareness of the enormity and horror of warfare during the First World War, made all the more real by our visits to the graves of Old Cliftonians or of relatives of pupils on the trip.

Read the pupil experience and see the gallery from the 2009 trip.

History Society

The History Society, open to pupils across the school, meets on a regular basis, with the aim of broadening pupils' historical understanding beyond the confines of the classroom curriculum. Meetings can take the form of seminars, discussions or lectures given by students themselves or by visiting experts.

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