Citizenship

All KS4 business students currently follow GCSE short-course citizenship and religious studies. Students begin this programme in Year 9 and complete it in Year 11. An examination is sat at the end of Year 11.

The certificating exam board for GCSE is AQA.

Enterprise students study for a GCSE short-course qualification in citizenship; this is also examined by AQA.

Geography

Geography is a GCSE option subject in KS4. Students study a range of physical and human topics which include tectonics, rivers ice and coasts, population, globalisation and tourism. At the end of Year 10 students begin a controlled assessment worth 25% of their final GCSE grade. The two exams are each worth 37.5% and are taken at the end of Year 11.

The certificating exam board for GCSE is AQA.

History

In history we study four units. The first is international affairs 1900 – 1939; focusing on the reasons for the First and Second World Wars, which encourages us to examine new modern historiography which argues that they were in fact the same conflict. The second unit is Russia 1917 – 1939; examining in depth Russia post the Bolshevik communist revolution, until the outbreak of the Second World War. The third is a controlled assessment, which requires students to independently investigate German History 1918 – 1939 in depth. The final unit is ‘The Transformation of British society 1931-51’, which encourages pupils to examine the impact war had on British society, a topic which feeds into the AS unit on 1960’s Britain.

The certificating exam board for GCSE is Edexcel.

Philosophy and Ethics

To gain a full course, candidates take two of six units available. The two selected for our curse are: ‘Religious Philosophy and ultimate Questions’ and ‘Religion and Morality’.

Each unit accounts for 50% of the total full course marks.

There are two, one and a half hour, written papers where candidates answer four structured essay questions from the choice of six.

In ‘Religious Philosophy and Ultimate Questions’ students have the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of religion and express their personal responses and informed insights on fundamental questions and issues about identity, belonging, meaning, purpose, truth, values and commitments. Topics studied include: Existence of God, The Problems of Evil and Suffering, Miracles, Science and Religion.

In’Religon and Morality;’ topics studied include: religious Attitudes to Matters or Life (Medical ethics), Religious Attitudes to Drug Abuse, religious Attitudes to Crime and Punishment and Religious Attitudes to World Poverty.

The certificating exam board for GCSE is AQA specification B.