January 2025 History subject update

GCSE History Crime and Punishment knowledge booster tests now available

The new Edexcel GCSE History Crime and Punishment knowledge booster tests are now available on our website.

This set of editable quizzes are designed to support students with AO1 knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the periods studied. The quizzes use a variety of question types including short answer questions, true/false, matching exercises, ranking or ordering exercises, concept maps, completing tables, and selecting single or multiple answers from a list.

The questions are intended to be straightforward and to help lower-attaining students build up their confidence in this thematic study, as well as ensuring that higher-attaining students have a foundation of key knowledge in place. Their purpose is to help students embed knowledge and build confidence, and we hope that these quizzes will be accessible to a wide range of students.

You can find the Crime and Punishment knowledge booster tests below. You will need an Edexcel Online account for any padlocked files, and your Edexcel Online administrator at your centre will be able to help you should you have any problems with your account.

Don't forget that we also have Knowledge Booster tests available for Paper 1 Medicine, Paper 3 Germany, and Paper 2 Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, Elizabethan England, American West and Superpower Relations.

Spring term training events for GCSE and A level History

This term we are running some training events to support teachers with sources and interpretations:

• A Level History: Teaching and Assessing Sources - 13 February 2025 at 16:00 - 17:30 GMT
• GCSE History: Teaching and Assessing Sources - 05 March 2025 at 16:00 - 17:00 GMT
• GCSE History: Teaching and Assessing Interpretations - 11 March 2025 at 16:00 - 17:00 GMT

Edexcel GCSE History marking training

We recently ran some marking training events for Edexcel GCSE History Papers 1, 2 and 3. You can now watch recordings of these events via our YouTube carousel (scroll right to see all the videos).

The materials for these events can be found below:

GCSE History 2026 content changes updated FAQs

We recently updated the 2026 content changes FAQs for GCSE History to include some new questions received by teachers about the changes. The new questions start on page 5 of the document:

GCSE History SOW updated for 2026

We also recently updated our schemes of work to reflect any changes to GCSE History content for 2026 assessment:

Summer 2025 entry deadline

It is now possible to make entries for the Summer 2025 exam series. The deadline for making entries for the Summer 2025 examination series is 21 February 2025 for UK AS, A level and GCSE. The deadline for international qualifications is 21 March 2025.

After these dates late entry fees may be charged. Please note that your exams officer will have their own internal deadlines in order to get the information necessary to make entries.

GCSE History entry code calculator

GCSE History teachers will need to use the entry code calculator to generate an entry code. The entry codes for Summer 2025 Edexcel GCSE History will be the same as in Summer 2023/2024 so the calculator remains unchanged from previous years.

Wars of the Roses Schools Conference

The Richard III Education Team are running a Wars of the Roses Schools conference for A level History students on 4 March 2025.

SHP Developing Teachers Conference

Are you an Early Career Teacher, a trainee teacher a primary lead history teacher or just looking to improve your practice with high-quality, great value, subject-specific CPD? The Schools History Project are running a Developing Teachers Conference on 1 February 2025.

Livestreamed CPD for secondary History teachers: South Asian migration to Britain in the 19th century

Join leading historian Dr Yasmin Khan; Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn of Justice to History; and Head of History Emma McKenna for this exciting partnership event from the British Library and the Historical Association. Get fresh ideas and resources for teaching about empire, migration and South Asian communities in 19th-century Britain.

This event will take place on 13 February 2025, 4pm – 5.15pm.

Teaching Medieval Women project at British Library

Teaching Medieval Women is a collaborative project between teachers and academics, looking to find new and innovative ways to bring the subject of medieval women into the classroom. There are a series of events and resources to support History teachers.

Mughals exhibition at V&A

The V&A South Kensington are running a major exhibition which celebrates the extraordinary creative output and internationalist culture of the Golden Age of the Mughal Court (about 1560 – 1660) during the reigns of its most famous emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.