A NESA Elective
Elective Ancient History
Newington’s Elective History course offers students the opportunity to study the ancient world, which is not available in the IGCSE course.
Why is studying ancient history a good idea?
- It helps students understand the range of human experience across time. It reveals how people in different environments and periods lived their daily lives, how they responded to challenges such as war, famine, and political change, and how they expressed beliefs through art, architecture, and literature. Students will gain an appreciation of the common features of human societies and experiences.
- It develops important analytical skills. Because evidence from the ancient world is often incomplete, students must interpret archaeological remains, written records, and material culture carefully. This requires critical thinking, evaluation of sources, and the ability to construct reasoned arguments. These skills are valuable not only in history but in many other academic and professional fields.
- It helps students understand both continuity and change over time. It shows how some institutions and ideas endure across centuries, while others evolve or disappear. It provides the foundation for understanding the world; this course will help students contextualise the political systems, legal ideas, cultural traditions, and technological developments that shape our society.
- It will provide very helpful source analysis, thinking and writing skills which will be highly valuable for HSC Ancient History, and will also be transferable to HSC Modern History, HSC Aboriginal Studies, HSC Legal Studies, and IB History.
Year 9 – Content
- Historical Period: Imperial China, Qin and Han dynasties
- Society Study: Ancient Greece in the 5th Century
- Personality Study: Cleopatra
Year 10 – Content
- Historical Period: New Kingdom Egypt
- Society Study: Rome in the 1st Century
- Personality Study: Alexander the Great
- Depth Study: Ancient Human Remains
