Highgate’s History Department introduces pupils to historical debates, spanning topics from Medieval Europe to the Black civil rights movement. We study History for the pure enjoyment of finding out how people have experienced the world around them in the past. The subject is taught to all pupils from Year 7 to 9 with the aim of making the learning experience both engaging and challenging.

In Year 7, we cover Medieval Europe; Year 8, the Reformation and the Tudor and Stuart dynasties, looking at the crises in the church and government, and in Year 9 we study the French and Haitian Revolutions, the British Empire and the First World War. A high proportion of our pupils decide to take History at GCSE from Year 10 and A Level from Year 12.

The emphasis in our History lessons is on participation in class discussions and activities. There are also opportunities to study the subject in ways that go beyond the syllabus, such as study trips to the Berlin and the First World War Battlefields of Belgium, writing for the school’s History Journal, or the taking part in the co-curricular History Society.

A Level History is intellectually exciting and challenging: students read the work of leading historians and learn the basis of their rival interpretations of the past, how to explain and evaluate contemporary documents, and how to express yourself precisely and persuasively. We offer two study options – Medieval and Modern – and the coursework option covers Black civil rights in the USA.

We want pupils to study independently, not least by using the wide range of print and digital resources in the Sir Martin Gilbert Library, named after Highgate’s most famous historian.