History
"And by the light of others foregoinge, he may followe after with more ease, and hapely finde a fayrer waye thereunto then they which have gone before".
Spenser, the School Poet, View of the Present State of Ireland.
These words grace the War Memorial Lobby outside the Great Hall.
We aim to combine academic excellence with the desire to enjoy the subject for its own sake. Results at GCSE and A level were outstanding again in 2007 and, once again, many students have gone on to read History at Oxford, Cambridge and other major universities.
Historians from Merchant Taylors’ leave the School well placed to succeed in the wider world. They have developed their skills in ICT and information retrieval, have wide experience of a range of writing and spoken presentation and are well-motivated independent learners.
The History Curriculum
Year 7 What is History? Medieval Realms. The Tudors.
Year 8 The English Civil War. The French Revolution.
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire.
Year 9 The Twentieth Century.
Year 10 The History of Medicine
A local history study on Britain during the Second World War
Year 11 A study in depth of the American West
The Irish Question
Year 12 Germany 1919-1939, Tudor History 1509-47
Year 13 German Foreign Policy 1933-39, Tudor History 1547-1603
From September 2008 we will be changing exam boards at A Level, from Edexcel to AQA, to follow courses on the Tudors and Vietnam and the collapse of the British Empire.
Teaching Staff
Mr A. R. Lock (Head of Department) Year 9 curriculum
Mr M. Bond (Head of Sixth Form)
Mr A. J. Booth (Head of Middle School) Year 10 & 11 curriculum
Mr J. G. Brown (Head of General Studies and School Archivist) Year 12 & 13 curriculum
Thwaites-Reid Library
Mrs E. F. Marshall Year 7 curriculum
Mr S. W. Stott (Head of Careers) Year 8 curriculum
Mr J. G. Taylor (Director of Studies) ICT Co-Ordinator
Mr D. R. D. Howell (Politics & Economics)
Mr S. N. Wright (Headmaster)
Resources
There is a well stocked 6th form History Library, and the four specialist classrooms are resourced with extensive audio-visual facilities, as well as data projectors and interactive whiteboards.
Trips and Extra-Curricular History
Teachers in the department place a high emphasis on the many exciting opportunities for personal enrichment that History can offer – annual trips to the First World War Battlefields and Warwick Castle are part of the curriculum and in 2007 students from the Sixth form visited Berlin. In 2008 there will be a Middle School trip to the Normandy Beaches and we are currently planning our first ever Vietnam Trip for the winter of 2009/10. We also arrange enjoyable quizzes and debates between pupils.
Gus Lock
Head of Department
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