Curriculum intent – Citizenship
Our Citizenship curriculum for Key Stage 4 equips students with ‘the essential knowledge that students need to be educated citizens’ so they can play a leading and active role within their community.
Citizenship focuses on ‘Rights & Responsibilities’, with the aim that our students are well-adjusted individuals with a deepened understanding of the fundamental British values.
Students do this by:
- analysing information and research further information from a range of sources, including the internet.
- sharing their views on more topical political, social and moral issues in class discussions and debates, justifying their opinions
- Knowing how to make informed choices and how to make their own decisions
Learning is also achieved outside the classroom through school visits to Parliament and through coursework. Students complete a Citizenship Action coursework in Year 11 which focuses on improving our wider community. Recent topics that students have picked in order include:
- tackling sexism within the school
- reducing knife crime within the local borough
- improving road safety in the area.
They have created e-petitions to force a debate in Parliament and change to law, invited guest speakers to raise awareness and have created a media campaign. Students work alongside staff such as the senior leadership team as well as businesses, charities and local government to create tangible changes.
Finally, we encourage students to improve these skills by getting involved in their school community by setting up clubs and running for positions within the student leadership team.
Politics Curriculum Intent
In our Politics A Level curriculum, year 12 and 13 students will learn to question and think more deeply about the world around them. The complex nature of British Politics will give students an insight into our rich history and unique traditions and political processes, whilst asking them to debate and analyse conflicting viewpoints. This will force students to engage with opposing views, encourage resilience as well as the ability to reflect and adapt.
They learn about the current political parties as well as studying the philosophical ideologies behind them. This improves their ability to discuss the merit of ideas improving their cultural capital in the process as they also form a deeper understanding of their own political identity and thus develop their own original and unique beliefs.
Also, in year 13, they progress onto using comparative theories approach to study US Politic and Government. The teaching is ambitious and will expose and challenge as it takes students on a learning journey beyond the A-Level specification for Government and Politics.
The Politics curriculum is planned and delivered using the intellectual framework of the classical education model:
· Grammar (Knowledge and skills) knowledge, learning by heart, subject terminology, cultural capital
· Dialectic (Enquiry and exploration) question, challenge, analyse, debate, evaluate
· Rhetoric (Communication) convincing arguments in essays, speeches, performances, presentations
In Politics, as well as writing long essays, students are expected to debate or complete a presentation at the end of most topics. The emphasis on debate and current affairs means students of Politics will experience lessons that are thought provoking and engaging.
Finally, reading, debate and analysis of political philosophy are academically rigorous and will prepare students well for undergraduate study. Many students of Politics go onto study Law, and P.P.E at top universities including Oxford University.
