Students at Launchpad will have the opportunity to study GCSE History as an option subject.

This qualification is designed for students with a passion for history and hunger to learn new things about British and European history every lesson. There are opportunities for students to participate in class discussions and independent research.

What is Launchpad aiming to achieve through its History curriculum?

• To develop their interest in and enthusiasm for history and an understanding of its intrinsic value and significance.
• To acquire an understanding of different identities, including their own, within a society and an appreciation of social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity.
• To build on their understanding of the past and the diversity of human experience through experiencing a broad and balanced course of study.
• To improve as effective, independent and resilient learners and as critical and reflective thinkers through a process of historical enquiry.
• To develop the ability to ask relevant and considered questions about the past and to investigate historical issues critically.

Units of study:

Students will have been studying four units in History, they will have chosen these when they began their History GCSE course when in mainstream school. Students will have selected one option from each of the different areas of study below.

Section A: Period studies

• America, 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation
• Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and dictatorship
• Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and communism
• America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and inequality

Section A: Thematic studies

• Britain: Health and the people: c1000 to the present day
• Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day
• Britain: Migration, empires and the people: c790 to the present day

Section B: Wider world depth studies

• Conflict and tension: The First World War, 1894–1918
• Conflict and tension: The inter-war years, 1918–1939
• Conflict and tension between East and West, 1945–1972
• Conflict and tension in Asia, 1950–1975
• Conflict and tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990–2009

Section B: British depth studies including the historic environment

• Norman England, c1066–c1100
• Medieval England: the reign of Edward I, 1272–1307
• Elizabethan England, c1568–1603
• Restoration England, 1660–1685

Assessments
Paper 1 (2-hour exam): Understanding the modern world
Section A - There is a choice of four period studies, each with a focus on two key developments in a country's history over at least a 50 year period.
Section B - There is a choice of five wider world depth studies. These focus on international
conflict and tension.

Paper 2 (2-hour exam): Shaping the nation
In Section A - There is a choice of three thematic studies, which look at key developments in Britain over a long period.
In Section B - There is a choice of four British depth studies incorporating the study of a specific historic environment.

Progression Opportunities:
Learners who achieve this qualification could progress onto further studies at Sixth Form: AS & A2 Level History, International Baccalaureate.

Career opportunities could include:
Law, Politics, Public Sector, Business, Marketing, Journalism, Economics, Teaching, Insurance, Archaeology, Curation (museums, galleries, archives and libraries)