Secondary News

As part of the Year 7 course on the Medieval period in Europe, the subject focus during this term has been on the role of Religion in the Middle Ages and why it held such importance in people's lives. During this week the students learned about The Crusades - a series of Holy Wars by European Catholics to recover the Holy Land from the new Muslim empire in the East. Specifically, the students were focusing on the different motivations that Europeans had to leave their homes and risk their lives fighting for Christianity in a faraway land. There were some excellent write ups from students evaluating what they believed to be the most important factors encouraging Europeans to venture on Crusade.

The Year 8 History students have been learning all about the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 19th Century, from the latest inventions to the changing landscapes to the living conditions of ordinary people at the time. During this week the students took on the role of detectives, trying to find out the root cause of who or what killed Mrs Miggins, an elderly woman who lived in East London in the 19th century. Students examined a number of primary and secondary sources to get to the bottom of the mystery and then wrote out their own 'coroner's report' evaluating what they believe the most likely cause of death was. The majority consensus from the class was that it was most likely cholera - a disease as a result of drinking dirty water - which was most likely responsible for her demise.

The focus in Year 9 is on Nazi Germany and what life was like for different groups of people living under Hitler and the Nazi party's rule. This week they had the chance to explore what everyday life was like for young people living in Nazi Germany. This meant focusing on Nazi education and the way in which the Nazi's attempted to indoctrinate young people into their way of thinking through control of the curriculum. Students also explored the role that the Hitler Youth played in preparing young boys to be the soldiers of the future. Students produced some original and well thought out diary entries giving their own interpretations of life as a teenager in Germany in the 1930s.

Year 11s have been continuing the Core Content of their IGCSE course, specifically on the outbreak of the Cold War, analysing different stages of the breakdown in relations of the wartime alliance between the USA and the Soviet Union. Last week the students completed their mock examinations. The main aim of these exams is to give the students a fuller picture on what to expect in the summer and to reflect on what went well and what they struggled with in terms of the exam questions. To that end, the Year 11s have spent the week reading through and rewriting the parts of the paper where they performed least well.