Humanities
Students are taught by subject staff in specialist rooms. It is hoped that by September 2009, once a lift has been installed for disabled access, all Humanities staff will be based on the top floor of the tower block.
KEY STAGE 3
In Year 7 a combined Humanities course is taught. Geography, History and RE are delivered in discrete 2-week long modules. A single member of staff is allocated to each group to reduce the numbers of teachers that each student sees. These mixed ability groups have students carrying statements allocated to one group to allow support to be targeted.
In Years 8 & 9, Geography, History and RE are compulsory subjects. Specialist staff teach these subjects, with students organised in 2 broad bands, which are then split into 3 ability sets. Currently, 2 periods are allocated to Geography and History, with RE having a single period per week.
KEY STAGE 4
RE will continue to be compulsory for all students, with the OCR Short Course will being delivered, a ½ GCSE qualification. Year 11 will now follow a short course in Citizenship, which combine together to make one full GCSE.
History and Geography are both option subjects in Years 10 and 11. Those choosing History follow the recently introduced OCR British Economic and Social course, to either GCSE or Entry levels. The Geography course followed is the OCR Syllabus C Bristol Project, with again most students taking GCSE, but where appropriate can be entered for Entry Level.
Travel & Tourism is in addition offered as an option subject. This B-TEC vocationally based course leads to First Diploma level with 4 GCSEs at (or above) C grade, or first Certificate level with 2 GCSEs at (or above) C grade.
POST-16
In the Sixth Form, Geography is offered as an option and is delivered in partnership with staff from Wednesfield High School. OCR Syllabus A is followed to both AS and A2 levels. History is also offered at Post-16 with it once again being taught in conjunction with Wednesfield High School. The OCR Syllabus is currently being delivered through to AS and A2 levels.
WHOLE SCHOOL ISSUES TO RAISE STANDARDS
The area makes a significant input to the range of whole school improvement issues. For example, the nature of the subject content delivered in each key stage means that aspects of citizenship are frequently taught.
The curriculum area also makes important contributions to the development of students’ literacy and numeracy skills. ICT has significantly enhanced teaching and learning, with the installation of additional hardware in Humanities rooms. Developing thinking skills through leading, learning approaches has been a particular focus for staff this year and will continue to be developed during the two years of this improvement plan.
Click here for more information on the exams taken at Coppice.