Curriculum Intent

More than any other subject, Politics explains the society in which we live. It is relevant to almost every aspect of the world around us. The decisions that affect our schools and colleges, our health service, our transport network, and our armed forces are all political decisions. Our rights and responsibilities as citizens – the power of the state over us, and our ability to choose and influence those in authority – are all related to politics. By the time students leave us they will be able to answer questions such as:

• How fair and representative is our voting system?
• How do people organise themselves to put pressure on the government?
• How powerful is parliament?
• How healthy is Western democracy?

Politics is not a static subject. Whilst key concepts such as democracy never change, the way in which they are applied in the real world is. Students will therefore keep up to date with the latest elections, referendums, constitutional changes, and policy decisions at the same time as making links and connections with older political events.

Through their study of Politics students will learn how to put forward their own opinions, and how to back up the points they make with evidence. They will be able to select and analyse information, to discriminate between different viewpoints

 

Key Stage 5

Edexcel 9PLO

Year 12	Year 13
Component 1: UK Politics Section A democracy and participation political parties electoral systems voting behaviour and the media Section B conservatism liberalism socialism Component 2: UK Government Section A parliament prime Minister and executive the constitution relationships between the branches Section B feminism	Component 3: Comparative Politics (USA) the US Constitution and federalism US Congress US presidency US Supreme Court and civil rights democracy and participation comparative theories Revision

Key Stage 5 assessment

• Students are given written feedback a minimum of once per half-term
• Students are assessed on a range of question stems and sit two full mock exams over the two-year course

 

Curriculum enrichment outside of the classroom

The Politics Department wholeheartedly encourage engagement with the subject outside of the classroom and facilitate this through a range of extra-curricular visits and experiences including the Year 13 New York and Washington visit, and a visit to Parliament and the Supreme Court.

 

The department also runs a weekly Politics Society for all year groups that discusses and debates a wide range of political issues far beyond the curriculum, and a weekly Politics Documentary Club for Years 11, 12 and 13.