In his famous quote, "Historia magistra vitae est – history is life’s teacher", Cicero conveys the idea that the study of the past should serve as a lesson to the future. In this spirit, we conduct the teaching of history here at Vanguard. We can only avoid past mistakes by carefully studying the circumstances that led to certain outcomes. We teach our students to critically evaluate different factors, to identify change and continuity, to work with primary and secondary sources and to assess the level of bias or objectivity in them.

Key Stage 3: 

Our KS3 curriculum is aspirational, inclusive and well-sequenced. It starts with the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons to England and their legal, administrative and social practices that subsequently merged with the Norman legacy after 1066.  The KS3 curriculum stretches to World War II.

Key Stage 4:

At GCSE, we follow the Edexcel board, and in years 10 and 11 study four big topics:

1. Norman England

2. Crime and Punishment

3.  Russia

4. The Cold War.

Our GCSE Curriculum helps us to stay relevant and provide background for the current political, social and economic problems of today.

The Norman England module helps us to understand the origins and dynamics of current English administrative legal and fiscal practices, e.g. the current discussion on the need to reform current leasehold and freehold practices which originate in an old medieval feudal system based on homage and exchange of fief between the lord and the vassal. 

The Crime and Punishment module informs the students about the origins of the English legal system and allows them to trace the development of procedures in investigating, prosecuting and punishing a crime.

The modules, Russia and The Cold War, allow the students to understand the origins of the military conflict currently taking place in East Europe between Ukraine and Russia and show that the nature of the conflict transcends the national interest of both countries involved in the conflict. The intricacies of the Cold War add an international dimension to the conflict and thus much deeper understanding.