Natural hazards (e.g. drought, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical cyclones):

• simple explanations of how natural hazards occur — physical processes, climate change, poor environmental management;
• the impact of hazards on people’s lives — distinguish between disasters and hazards;
• why some people are more at risk than others;
• who is at risk;
• management of risks and risk reduction — preventative measures (e.g. with regard to flooding, measures such as catchment management to improve the quality of rivers, vales and wetlands and to reduce risks to human life and ecosystems).

Population growth and change:

• factors affecting population growth and change (e.g. age and gender structures, population movement, life expectancy, mortality, fertility, aging populations);
• processes affecting population growth and change (e.g. disease, poverty, attitudes to birth and death, conflict and war, genocide, forced migrations, rural-urban migration, cause-and-effect relationships on different scales (e.g. South Africa compared to Africa, Africa compared to the world), focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Mapwork:

• extracting information from maps and photos;
• measuring distances on maps, atlases and globes and converting to reality;
• comparing orthophotos with reality where possible.

Settlement:

• functions of cities;
• settlement patterns, including internal structures of settlements and location patterns in South Africa and elsewhere;
• factors affecting settlement patterns, including physical, environmental, social, political and economic (e.g. legacy of colonialism and apartheid, rural depopulation, effect of globalisation).

Transportation:

• effect on trade;
• response to demand for trade;
• role in providing access to opportunities;
• effect on the shape and structure of settlements;
• transport between settlements.

Natural resources (e.g. types of marine life, water, air, forests and soil) in South Africa and worldwide.

• how they are being used;
• conservation and protection of resources (including wildlife);
• why conservation is necessary;
• threats to conservation;
• new opportunities to conserve resources (e.g. community development, eco-tourism, ways to share resources in a sustainable manner).

Mapwork:

• extracting information from maps and photos;
• identifying features on maps and orthophotos;
• comparing distances on maps and orthophotos.

Development issues:

• approaches to development: concepts of developing, developed, sustainable development and sustainability
• the role of science and technology: effect on development, the Green Revolution, modification of crops, use of appropriate technology.

Sustainable use of resources:

• principles of Agenda 21, such as the need for everybody to participate in the management of resources;
• the dependence of all people on natural resources for their livelihoods and survival;
• the need for all our actions to ensure future sustainability;
• the need for everybody to be actively involved in addressing environmental problems (e.g. pollution, waste disposal).

Mapwork:

• extracting, analysing and comparing information from maps, atlases, satellite images, aerial photographs;
• correlating information with observations in the field.

The development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509

• the Norman Conquest
• Christendom, the importance of religion and the Crusades
• the struggle between Church and crown
• Magna Carta and the emergence of Parliament
• the English campaigns to conquer Wales and Scotland up to 1314
• society, economy and culture: for example, feudalism, religion in daily life (parishes, monasteries, abbeys), farming, trade and towns (especially the wool trade), art, architecture and literature the Black Death and its social and economic impact
• the Peasants’ Revolt
• the Hundred Years War
• the Wars of the Roses; Henry VII and attempts to restore stability

The development of Church, state and society in Britain 1509-1745

• Renaissance and Reformation in Europe
• the English Reformation and Counter Reformation (Henry VIII to Mary I)
• the Elizabethan religious settlement and conflict with Catholics (including Scotland, Spain and Ireland) the first colony in America and first contact with India
• the causes and events of the civil wars throughout Britain
• the Interregnum (including Cromwell in Ireland)
• the Restoration, ‘Glorious Revolution’ and power of Parliament
• the Act of Union of 1707, the Hanoverian succession and the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 society, economy and culture across the period: for example, work and leisure in town and country, religion and superstition in daily life, theatre, art, music and literature

Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901

• the Enlightenment in Europe and Britain, with links back to 17th-Century thinkers
• and scientists and the founding of the Royal Society Britain’s transatlantic slave trade: its effects and its eventual abolition
• the Seven Years War and The American War of Independence
• the French Revolutionary wars
• Britain as the first industrial nation – the impact on society
• party politics, extension of the franchise and social reform
• the development of the British Empire with a depth study (for example, of India)
• Ireland and Home Rule
• Darwin’s ‘On The Origin of Species’

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day

• women’s suffrage
• the First World War and the Peace Settlement
• the inter-war years: the Great Depression and the rise of dictators
• the Second World War and the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill
• the creation of the Welfare State
• Indian independence and end of Empire
• social, cultural and technological change in post-war British society
• Britain’s place in the world since 1945

A local history study

• a depth study linked to one of the British areas of study listed above
• a study over time, testing how far sites in their locality reflect aspects of national history (some sites may predate 1066) a study of an aspect or site in local history dating from a period before 1066