KS5 (A Level) Curriculum

The A level History course has three units.  The first two examined units are studied across Year 12 and 13 and the coursework unit is completed in Year 13.

Edexcel, 9HIS

UNIT 1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603 40% of A Level

This focuses on the Tudor dynasty from Henry VII – Elizabeth I. 1485-1547 (Henry VII and VIII) is taught in Year 12 and 1547 – 1603 (Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth 1) taught in Year 13.

In Year 12 the course covers:

• Political history of the period e.g. threats to the throne, the divorce, consolidation of power, role of government ministers e.g. Wolsey, Cromwell

• The Reformation and the Break with Rome

• Foreign policy, relations with Scotland, France and Spain

• Tudor Rebellions

• Economic history including trade and exploration

In Year 13 the course covers:

• A Mid Tudor Crisis? The reigns of Edward and Mary

• Foreign policy and war with Spain

• The threat of Mary Queen of Scots

• Tudor Rebellions – Wyatt, Kett, Western, Northern Earls, Essex

• The changing religious policies of Edward, Mary and Elizabeth.

UNIT 2R The Cold War, c1945–1991 40% of the A Level

The Cold War syllabus is divided into two main parts: Part One: To the Brink of Nuclear War: International Relations, c1945–1963 which is taught in Year 12 and Part Two: From Détente to the end of the Cold War, c1963–1991 which is taught in Year 13.

In Year 12 the course covers:

• Relations at the end of WWII, the Iron Curtain, division of Germany, the Berlin Blockade

• The Korean War

• NATO, Warsaw Pact

• The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Key world leaders e.g. Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill, Eisenhower, Khrushchev, Mao Zedong, J. F Kennedy and Kim ll Sung

In Year 13 the course covers:

• The Vietnam War

• The Second Cold War: the reasons for renewed hostilities and developments

• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

• The collapse of Communism in the Eastern European soviet satellite states; the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine and significance of events of 1989

• The ending of Cold War tensions in Asia: Afghanistan; the Americas: Cuba, Nicaragua and El Salvador; Africa: Angola and Ethiopia

• Role of individuals such as Nixon, Reagan, Thatcher, Brezhnev and Gorbachev

UNIT 3 Coursework on Russia 1855-1945 - 20% of A Level

This involves a study of approximately 100 years of Russian History from 1855 to 1945. This includes the last Tsars, Alexander II and III, Nicholas II, the Russian Revolution, the regimes of both Lenin and Stalin. 

Students will be required to complete an extended essay of approximately 4500 words. Students will study this during the summer term of Year 12.