During the Spring term our year 8s have been learning about the changes in Britain during the Industrial revolution.

As Britain’s imperial strength grew so did the wealth of the country, this led to new opportunities for people at home in the UK. Students will explore in detail the new inventions and manufacturing techniques that led to Britain becoming known as the ‘workshop of the world’. Alongside this, new social issues developed due to an increase in the population and the development of a larger working class. Our year 8s investigated the development of new laws to protect the wealthy and how the power of the working classes developed further.

With the increasing divide between rich and poor, students are studying the period from 1700 to 1900, which saw major changes in the nature of crimes being committed. Not only was there an increase in the amount of crime but there was also a change in attitudes as to what should be considered a crime. Alongside this, there was an increase in capital punishment and also the development of the prison system. This period also saw the development of the first professional police force designed to enforce the law. Year 8s are looking at the reasons for these changes and what the resulting outcomes were.

“I love how in history lessons you can zoom in on the past and take part in it and see how everything has changed in our modern-day society, I think it is fascinating.” Harry in year 8

“I really like learning about the past and what has happened, and what has changed. We have covered lots of topics and our latest one is WWI which is very interesting.” Ethan in year 8

Examples of year 8 work by Harry and Ethan