Quintin Kynaston School, a specialist technology school

Key Stage 4

The History GCSE is taught in Year 10 and 11. The students follow the AQA History B syllabus. It consists of:

Year 10

  • International Relations in the 20th Century
  • The cause of WWI
  • The Failure of the League of Nations
  • The lead up to WWII

Year 11

  • Modern History Depth Studies
  • The Roaring 20s
  • Race Relations in the 60s
  • Arab Israeli Conflict

Throughout all six units students build up a range of historical skills, including source analysis, evaluation, inference, reliability, and utility. They also develop their writing skills, learn to debate and argue about key issues and develop their cognitive reasoning. Each year they are also required to understand new concepts and approaches to historical thinking. The assessment comprises of two 1 hour 45 minute exam which is 60 marks in total and counts for 75% of their final history grade.

Beyond this the students also complete an inquiry into British response to war. Students investigate through source analysis various impacts on British society that war in the 20th century caused.

Year 10

History students in year 10 study Unit 1 of their GCSE which is entitled ‘International Relations in the 20th Century’ and is split into three main topics. The first topic is the ‘The Origins of the First World War’. The key issues within this unit are ‘Why were there two armed camps in Europe in 1914?’ and ‘Why did war break out in 1914? The second unit is the ‘Peacemaking 1918-39 and the League of Nations’. The key questions within this unit are ’How did the Treaty of Versailles establish peace?’ and ‘Why did the League of Nations fail in its aim to keep peace?’ The third unit is ‘Hitler’s foreign policy and the origins of the Second World War’. The key issues within this are ‘How did Hitler challenge and exploit the Treaty of Versailles 1933–March 1938?’ and ‘Why did Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement fail to prevent the outbreak of war in 1939?’

Year 11

In Year 11 the students study three units. The first is ‘the Roaring twenties’ studying the USA in the 1920s up to the great depression. Secondly they study the Civil Rights movement in the USA in the 1960s. Lastly they complete a study of the Middle East Israeli conflict, investigating its cause and consequence. Key questions include: ‘Are Israel’s borders justified?’, ‘Was Nasser a failure?’, ‘Was Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks more influential?’, and ‘Did Prohibition have any positive outcomes?’