History Read, Watch, Listen

Recommended Websites,
Podcasts and Videos

Spartacus Educational
Historical Association Student Zone: log in using the details below:
Username: 38473
Password: bidstudents18

BBC Sounds – You're dead to me

Exams and Revision

GCSE Revision Guides:
Recommended revision guides are available for purchase from Reception or from Amazon – we suggest the Hodder ones.

Early Elizabethan England – 1558-1588, price:  £4.99, ISBN: 978-1292169712

Superpower Relations and the Cold War – 1941-91, price: £4.99, ISBN: 978-1292169750

USA: Conflicts at Home and Abroad – 1954-1975, price: £4.99, ISBN: 978-1292169767

Migrants in Britain c800-present – The revision guide is not yet printed for this new unit.

TV programmes recommended for
background knowledge

Key Stage 3:
BBC Bitesize History
Horrible Histories

Key Stage 4:
BBC Bitesize – The Cold War and Vietnam
BBC Bitesize – Elizabeth I

Research and Articles

Try, if possible, to visit historical sites and museums. Watch documentaries related to periods you are studying or even other periods that interest you as these can also help you improve your historical knowledge and skills.

Pay attention to current events; these are often linked to events in the past.

Visit the school library.

Literacy Focus – History

Key Stage 3:
There are no set texts for History, however, we would highly recommend reading historical fiction and non-fiction to help with greater confidence around content covered in lessons and general historical knowledge.
Fun books like the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary as well as the The Royal Diaries series of fictionalised accounts of the lives of royal women.

Key Stage 4:
There are no set texts for History, however, we would highly recommend reading historical fiction and non-fiction to help with greater confidence around content covered in lessons and general historical knowledge. Some suggestions are:

The Last Paper Crane, Kerry Drewery
Stay Where You Are, John Boyne
Animal Farm, George Orwell
A Dangerous Crossing, Jane Mitchell
Now or Never: A Dunkirk Story, Bali Rai

Key Stage 5:
There is an A level textbook used for Papers 1 and 2, but there is a key historical text for Paper 3 and the Coursework: Green Flag by Robert Kee.
Suggested reading to help with greater contextual understanding: (This list is not exhaustive.)
Ireland, Tim Pat Coogan
I am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
British Society Since 1945, Arthur Marwick
Thatcher, Hugo Young
A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn
A Very Short Introduction to Northern Ireland
A Very Short Introduction to Nineteenth Century Britain
A Very Short Introduction to Twentieth-Century Britain