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HUMANITIES

HUMANITIES

The Humanities Department covers Global Perspectives, Economics, Geography, History, Business Studies and Religious Education. Geography, History and Religious Education are taught throughout the school while Economics is taught only to

 

Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11).

In Key Stage 3 students study Geography for three lessons per fortnight and History and Religious Education for two lessons per fortnight. At present in Key Stage 4 all students currently study Global Perspectives, Economics and Religious Education. Students may elect to study Geography and History.

 
Key Stage 3 Humanities

The aim of the courses in Humanities is both to provide coverage of the English NationalCurriculum and to prepare students for IGCSE/GCSE and beyond.

 
Global Perspectives
 

Exam Board: c.i.e

Specification Number: 0457

Eligibility: All Year 10 & 11 Students

Meeting government ministers, organising a local river clean-up project and writing to the United Nations about climate change, are just some of the activities learners are pursuing through the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives course. Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives is a groundbreaking new course that is cross-curricular, stretching across traditional subject boundaries. It taps into the way learners of today enjoy learning, including group work, seminars, projects, and working with other learners around the world. The emphasis is on developing the ability to think critically about a range of global issues where there is always more than one point of view.

 
Assessment

  • Unit 1: Studying Society; Education; Families (50%)

  • Unit 2: Crime and Deviance; Mass Media; Power; Social inequality (50%)

Global Perspectives is 100% examination therefore students need to be able to manage their time effectively to work hard in lessons, complete independent work and develop the ability to write detailed answers. They need to be critical in your answers and be able to take on other points of views. Students will learn about different sociological perspective and theory and how to apply this to social issues. Students will need to be hard working to succeed.

 
Progression Opportunities
 

A small selection of jobs which Sociology would benefit are

  • Social Worker

  • Teacher

  • Management

  • Journalist

  • Researcher

  • Probation Officer

  • Police Officer

  • Lecturer

  • Solicitor

  • Lawyer

 

There are many exciting possibilities where you could use Sociology.

 
Geography
 

In Year 7 the first unit of work to be studied will be geographical skills including map work. Students will then study flooding, the Geography of Nigeria, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Settlement. The core book is New Key Geography: Foundations by David Waugh.

Students in Year 8 will investigate population, the environment, rivers and world issues such as Global Warming. The core book in Year 8 is New Key Geography: Connections by David Waugh.

In Year 9 students will study the tourist industry, ecosystems, natural hazards, Japan and globalization. The core book is New Key Geography: Interactions by David Waugh

 
History
 

In Year 7 students will start the year looking at the skills involved in the studying history. Student will then study the Making of the United Kingdom from the Norman invasion in 1066 to the end of the Medieval period and to conclude students will study Nigerian history. The core book for the first two topics will be Contrasts and Connections Year 7: Discovering the Past by Corbishley et al. In Year 8 students will study the making of the United Kingdom from the Tudors to the GreatFire of London. The core book will be Re-Discovering The Making of the United Kingdom1500 – 1750 by Lomas et al.

In Year 9 students will study twentieth century world history from the causes of the First World War to the Cold War. The core book is Re-Discovering The Twentieth Century World by Shepherd et al.

 
Religious Education
 

In Religious Education, Year 7 Students will study Think RE! 1 where topics like: What is Belief? Code Breaking, What people believe about GOD, What happens when we die, Good leadership, and What it means to be human. Most of these topics will be examined from the point of view of the world’s most recognized Religions. They will examine Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism.

In year 8, the Students would be introduced to the Edexcel scheme and be taught basic knowledge of the syllabus.

From Year 9, Students would be taught in-depth, the Edexcel scheme which is divided into two sections.

Unit 1 is based on Religion and Life {5RS01} and Students will learn the following major topics under four sections:

  1. Believing in God

  2. Matters of Life and Death

  3. Marriage and the Family

  4. Religion and community cohesion.

 

Years 10 and 11 will examine the other section, which is unit 8 based on Religion and Society, {5RS08}. This section will be examined under four broad topics divided into sections:

  1. Religion: rights and responsibilities

  2. Religion: environmental and medical issues

  3. Religion: peace and conflict

  4. Religion: crime and punishment.

 

Students will sit for the final examination in the final term of Year 11 when they will sit for all other subjects.

The core books for Edexcel Religious Education are:

  1. Religion and Life {fifth edition} Hodder Education, by Victor W. Watton and

  2. Religion and Society {third Edition} Hodder Education}by Rebecca Watton and Victor W. Watton.

 
Geography
 

In Year 10 students will study:

  1. Population dynamics.

  2. Settlement.

  3. Plate Tectonics.

  4. Weathering.

  5. Rivers, weather, climate and natural vegetation.

  6. Interrelationship between the natural environment and human activities with natural hazards, landscape processes and climate.

 

At the start of Year 11 those students currently in Year 10 may be offered the opportunity to undertake a field trip to the United Kingdom in order to prepare for Paper 4. Paper 4 is the paper that tests field work skills of students and so the field work will be a vital preparation for this part of the assessment of the course.

Year 11 students will study this year:

  1. Formation of landforms

  2. Weathering

  3. Industrial systems

  4. Farming

  5. Geographical skills

The core book for geography in Years 10 and 11 will be Cambridge IGCSE Geography Course book.

 
History
 

In History we study during the course of Years 10 and 11 the Twentieth Century: International Relations since 1919.

The current Year 10 will study the following:

  1. Were the peace treaties of 1919 fair?

  2. To what extent was the League of Nations a success?

  3. Why had international relations collapsed by 1939?

  4. Who was to blame for the Cold War?

  5. How effectively did the USA contain the spread of Communism?

They will then go on in Year 11 to study:

  1. How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe?

  2. How effective has the United Nations organisation been?

  3. Depth Study: Germany 1918- 1945 or USA 1919 to 1941.

  4. Preparation for Paper 2

Year 11 students will study the following topics:

  1. Who was to blame for the Cold War?

  2. How effectively did the USA contain the spread of Communism

  3. How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe?

  4. How effective has the United Nations been?

  5. Complete Depth Study.

  6. Prepare for Paper 2 on the League of Nations.

The core book for History will be Twentieth Century History IGCSE International Relation since1919 by J. McAleavy

 
Economics
 

The IGCSE Economics is a two year course and the topics that will be studied during the course of the two years are as follows:

Economics for IGCSE

  1. Basic economic problem: choice and the allocation of resources a. The Nature of the Economic Problem. b. Factors of production c. Opportunity cost and analysis d. Production possibility curves e. Evaluate the implication of particular courses in terms of opportunity cost

  2. The allocation of resources: how the market works; market failure

  3. The individual as producer, consumer and borrower.

  4. The private firm as producer and employer

  5. Role of government in an economy

  6. Economic indicators a. Price b. Employment c. Output

  7. Developed and developing economies: trends in production, population and living standards.

  8. International aspects

 

The core book for Economics in both Years 10 and 11 is Economics for IGCSE by Dransfield et al.

Exams and exam boards

For all subjects contained within the Humanities Curriculum area students are currently studying only with the Cambridge Examination Board. The subjects, levels and board are indicated below:

Economics IGCSE Cambridge Geography IGCSE Cambridge History IGCSE Cambridge Religious Education IGCSE Cambridge

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