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Checking Sources Against Each Other
Historical Thinking
Corroborate: check whether multiple sources agree on the same facts — and investigate why they might not
Questioning Historical Sources
Historical Thinking
Before trusting a historical source, ask: who made this, when, and why? — the answers shape how much weight the source should carry
Understanding People in Their Own Time
Historical Thinking
Understand that people in the past saw the world very differently from us — judge their actions by the context they lived in, not only by today's values
Alexander the Great's Empire
Ancient Greece & Rome
Describe how Alexander the Great of Macedon conquered a vast empire stretching from Greece to Egypt to India, spreading Greek language, culture, and ideas across the ancient world — creating a period known as the Hellenistic Age where Greek and Eastern cultures blended
Ancient Egypt's Lasting Legacy
Ancient Egypt
Evaluate ancient Egypt's lasting legacy: the Egyptians developed early forms of medicine, mathematics (used to build pyramids and survey land after floods), astronomy (calendar based on star observations), and engineering that influenced later civilisations including Greece and Rome — and compare ancient Egypt with other early civilisations (Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Shang Dynasty) to identify shared features like writing, agriculture, cities, and organised religion
Art & Architecture
Medieval Times
Medieval cultural achievements: illuminated manuscripts, Gothic cathedrals (flying buttresses, stained glass), Gregorian chant, the Bayeux Tapestry; art and architecture as expressions of faith and power
Cleopatra and the End of Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Know that ancient Egypt eventually came to an end: the last pharaoh was Cleopatra VII, who allied with Rome but was defeated by Octavian (later Augustus) in 31 BCE, after which Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire — ending over 3,000 years of pharaonic rule and beginning a new chapter in Egypt's history
Crime & Punishment
Medieval Times
How justice worked in medieval times: trial by ordeal, trial by combat, the role of the sheriff; punishments including stocks, pillory, and dungeons; how different it was from modern justice
Egyptian Art and Architecture
Ancient Egypt
Analyse Egyptian art and architecture: understand that Egyptian paintings followed strict conventions (people shown from the side with eyes from the front, size indicating importance), that tomb and temple design evolved from mastabas to step pyramids to smooth pyramids to rock-cut temples like Abu Simbel, and that obelisks, colossal statues, and temples like Karnak demonstrated the pharaoh's power and devotion to the gods
Egyptian Timelines and Maps
Ancient Egypt
Read and construct historical timelines — place Ancient Egyptian periods, pharaohs, and key events on a timeline relative to each other and to the present day; interpret maps showing the Nile delta, trade routes, and the location of key sites
Egyptian Trade and Economy
Ancient Egypt
Understand that ancient Egypt had a thriving economy based on farming surplus, trade, and specialised labour: the Nile's fertile soil produced enough food to support craftworkers, priests, and officials, and Egypt traded along the Nile and across the Mediterranean — exchanging gold, papyrus, and grain for cedarwood from Lebanon, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and incense from Punt
Evidence for Greek and Roman Life
Ancient Greece & Rome
Understand that historians and archaeologists piece together ancient Greek and Roman life from evidence — pottery paintings, coins, inscriptions, ruins like Pompeii, and written texts by authors such as Homer and Pliny — and that the same evidence can be interpreted in different ways by different historians
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Ancient Greece & Rome
Describe how the Western Roman Empire gradually declined due to a combination of factors — military pressure from invading peoples, political instability, economic problems, and an overstretched empire — and finally fell in AD 476, while the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire continued for nearly a thousand more years
Greek and Roman Architecture
Ancient Greece & Rome
Identify Greek column styles — Doric (plain and sturdy), Ionic (scroll-shaped capitals), and Corinthian (ornate leafy capitals) — and Roman architectural innovations — the arch, the dome, and concrete — and spot their influence in modern public buildings such as courthouses, museums, government buildings, and monuments
Greek and Roman Legacy Today
Ancient Greece & Rome
Evaluate the lasting contributions of Greek and Roman civilisations to modern life — democracy, law, language (Latin roots), architecture (columns, arches, domes), sport (Olympics), philosophy, literature, and theatre — and understand that Greek ideas reached us through Rome, and then through later European civilisations, in a chain of cultural transmission
Greek Philosophers and Medicine
Ancient Greece & Rome
Know that Greek thinkers called philosophers developed ways of understanding the world that still influence us today — Socrates asked challenging questions to test ideas (the Socratic method), Plato imagined the ideal society, Aristotle observed and classified the natural world — and that Hippocrates is called the father of medicine for insisting on natural causes of illness rather than blaming the gods
Judgement of the Dead
Ancient Egypt
Describe the Egyptian belief in the judgement of the dead: after death, the heart was weighed against the feather of Ma'at in the Hall of Judgement, with Anubis overseeing the scales and Thoth recording the result — a pure heart meant entry to the Field of Reeds (paradise), while a heavy heart was devoured by the monster Ammit, and know that the Book of the Dead contained spells to help the deceased pass this test
Magna Carta and Limiting Royal Power
Medieval Times
King John, the barons' revolt, and the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215; what the Magna Carta said about limiting the king's power; its lasting importance for democracy and rights
Medieval Legacy in Modern Life
Medieval Times
What the Middle Ages gave us: Parliament, universities, common law, Gothic architecture, the English language (Anglo-Saxon + Norman French), place names, surnames; why we are still fascinated by the medieval world
Medieval Worlds Beyond Europe
Medieval Times
The medieval world beyond Europe: the Islamic Golden Age (maths, medicine, architecture), the Mali Empire and Mansa Musa, Song Dynasty China; how the medieval world was connected through trade routes like the Silk Road
Printing Press & Renaissance
Medieval Times
The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg and its arrival in England with William Caxton; how printed books changed everything; the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Roman Law, Latin, and Christianity
Ancient Greece & Rome
Understand that Roman law became the basis for legal systems across Europe and beyond, that Latin is the root of French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian and gave English hundreds of words (e.g. exit, video, annual, education), and that Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, eventually becoming its official religion under Emperor Constantine
Roman Republic and Empire
Ancient Greece & Rome
Explain how Rome was first governed as a republic — with elected consuls, a powerful Senate, and a distinction between patricians and plebeians — before becoming an empire ruled by emperors like Augustus (who brought peace, the Pax Romana) and Nero, and compare republican government with Athenian direct democracy
The Pharaoh as Living God
Ancient Egypt
Understand that the pharaoh was not just a ruler but was believed to be a living god — the intermediary between the gods and the people — and that the concept of Ma'at (truth, justice, and cosmic order) guided Egyptian law and government, with viziers and officials administering the kingdom on the pharaoh's behalf