August Blog: Back to school
Back to School
We hope that those of you returning to school in August after the long vacation have had a restful time!
If you are teaching first year IGCSE History students, don't forget that we have a 'Getting Started' section for students. This gives them an overview of the course and assessment and how to use the online textbook.
(You can get full access on this site for your students as part of your subscription - see this page for how to do this).
If you are a new teacher to this website, we also have a 'Getting started' section for teachers.
August anniversaries
'Anniversaries mark the passage of time, recall our triumphs, and honor our losses'
One way to start off the school year is to look at some of the key anniversaries of this month (or those that took place over the holiday) - either to introduce students to these topics, or to review them.
The most notable anniversary over the summer was that of the two-Hundred-and-Fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence - July 4, 1776.
July also saw the 110-year anniversary of the Battle of the Somme which started July 1st, 1916 which is relevant to students studying the First World War as their Depth Study
Students could be encourage to investigate either of these events and see how the anniversary has been covered in the media in different countries. This is also a good opportunity to create a display on these anniversaries and/or do an assembly.
Paper Two: Prescribed topics
The prescribed topics for Paper 2 in November 2026 are:
Option A: How was Italy unified?
Option B: How effectively did the United States contain the spread of communism?
We will add practice papers on these topics in the next month.
Looking ahead, the prescribed topics for Paper 2 for 2027 are:
Core Option A
- How was Germany unified? (March exam – India only)
- Why, and with what effects, did nations gain and expand their overseas empires in the nineteenth century? (June exam)
- Were the revolutions of 1848 important? (November exam)
Core Option B
- Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? (March exam – India only)
- How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe, 1948–c.1989? (June exam)
- Was the Treaty of Versailles fair? (November exam)
B