The History Department is dynamic, popular and thriving. The staff are committed and enthusiastic and lessons are energising. In Year 7 you are likely to encounter Julius Caesar, decide whether Claudius should invade Britain and who should be King in 1066.

The highlight of Year 8 is a visit to Penshurst Place, Kent, to a living history presentation "The Coming of the Spanish Armada". You will be able to train as a pikeman and a musketeer, dress up in Elizabethan clothes, learn to dance and make your reverences. In lessons you will learn why Elizabeth I's reign was one of the greatest and how the monarch lost the struggle for power to Parliament.

In Year 9 you will learn to appreciate how Britain became anindustrial democracy and the importance of Britain's imperial past including the issue of slavery. In the latter part of the year you will conduct a case study of the suffragettes, and learnwhy the First World War began and how it was conducted. A highlight of Year 9 during Enrichment Week is the planned visit to the First World War Battlefields' sites in France.

The GCSE course is a popular, exciting and topical modern world history course. In year 10 we visit the Imperial War Museum and Year 11 attend the mock trial of Adolf Hitler and revision conference.

Should you be fortunate enough to study at Advanced Level we have constructed a course centred on the history of Britain and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries including the history of Italian unification; Bismarck and the German state; the origins of the First World War; Votes for Women in Britain; the Chartist Experience and the development of democracy in Britain.