After a compulsory first year, History is a very popular option for GCSE and Sixth Form courses. The History course for the Foundation Year (year 9) aims to show something of the variety of the subject. Key areas are the Italian Rennaissance, Voyages of Discovery, Late Victorian/Edwardian Britain up to 1914 and World War I. During the summer term, pupils will participate in a study visit to the First World War battlefields in Northern France and Belgium. The GCSE course is studied in the Remove (year 10) and Hundred (year 11). In the Remove, pupils will study The Peace settlement on 1919, aspects of diplomacy 1919, Weimar Germany, The Third Reich, World War II and Russia 1917-41. An expedition to the Normandy D-Day battlefield is also organised. In the Hundred, pupils study World War II and the Cold War 1945-63. In the Sixth Form, History is available for all pupils at both A level and the International Baccalaureate.

The IB course consists of three elements; world topics, a regional study and individual assignments involving a close examination of historical sources. For the AS course, the units studied are English History from 1603-1653 and the American Civil Rights Movement 1945-68. A further three units are added for the A2 course; the political career of Oliver Cromwell, Anglo-Normal England 1042-1155 and an individual assignment.

A large number continue these historical studies at university with over 30 achieving places at Oxford and Cambridge in the last ten years as well as at other leading universities. The department has a vigorous History Society which organises lectures and visits.

The History Department  is committed to offering the widest possible range of courses: it offers medieval, early modern and modern British History together with European, American and International history.

Within these courses the department is concerned to make ideas come alive - from Renaissance Painting, to the nature of warfare, through the great philosophical systems that have shaped our world - nationalism, the varieties of democracy, liberalism, conservatism, socialism, fascism and communism.

A wide range of interests and expertise are represented by the members of the department. We have specialists in the Anglo Saxon Monarchy, Stuart England, Oliver Cromwell, the Enlightenment, British Conservatism, the French Revolution, Political ideas, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century British History, and French, German, Russian, Italian and Chinese history.