History is the story of everything that has ever happened: it is Napoleon at Waterloo, Luther at Wittenberg, Muhammad Ali shaking up the world, William at Hastings, Suffragettes outside parliament, the Beatles breaking America, Britain standing alone in 1940 and much more besides. Who needs fiction when we have such an inexhaustible reservoir of exhilarating, awe-inspiring and heart-wrenching stories from our past to draw upon?

At King’s Ely, it is our aim to bring this wonderful subject to life, to inspire in our pupils a passion for learning about the past, and to instil in them the confidence to investigate it critically. Building on their enthusiasm, we aim to foster a spirit of enquiry, enabling our pupils to ask penetrating questions and to follow them through analytically.

Our courses focus on a range of units drawn from the medieval, early modern and modern periods. We begin with a study of WWII before moving on to our GCSE course, where there is an emphasis on early modern British History and 20th century international relations. At A Level, we cover the High Middle Ages and Russia 1855-1991. Post A Level, a significant number of our students have pursued their interest in History at Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities.

History is also taken beyond the classroom through our bi-weekly lecture society, History Café, our annual History themed week, and our many trips; the most recent being visits to Berlin and Krakow and the WWI battlefields of Belgium and France.