Citizenship

INTENT

Citizenship aims to motivate and enable students to become thoughtful, active citizens in society. The curriculum provides opportunities to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world in which we live. Our intent is for our students to develop a deeper knowledge of democracy, rights and responsibilities, government and law, whilst honing skills to help create reasoned arguments and gain an inner confidence to be able to present personal viewpoints. The subject affords students the opportunity to undertake their own campaign, which comprises all the key elements from the course, allowing them to apply their knowledge and skills in a practical project. The four key themes are used as vehicles to strengthen students’ understanding of their own roles within society.

IMPLEMENTATION

We follow the AQA specification for GCSE Citizenship, covering Life in Modern Britain, Rights and Responsibilities, Politics and Participation and Taking Citizenship Action. Each lesson begins with a recall task linked to prior lessons to ensure a fluent learning journey. A range of delivery methods are employed in order to provide students with a rich understanding of new areas of knowledge: PowerPoints, video clips, photographs alongside various other resources are used to support learning. Teachers deploy a variety of strategies within the classroom to help students retain and apply knowledge, such as frequent question/answer sessions to establish and misconceptions as well as helping to embed new knowledge. A variety of source stimulus material is used to provide to the basis of conveying knowledge to students. This format helps the students prepare for the exam which incorporates several Case Studies for students to analyse and evaluate.

IMPACT

On a qualitative level, we would like our students studying the subject to gain a deeper empathy for individuals in society and also hope they develop a keen ability to become critical thinkers and become active within their society, making positive steps to become vigilant and active within the world around them.

Quantitatively, we measure students’ progress by implementing half termly formative and summative assessments. This identifies and areas that require further input and is used as a tool to guide teachers create bespoke learning pathways to best help individual learners maximise their potential. We strive to ensure that all students secure a GCSE level.