Politics
The Politics department was created in 2022 as we began teaching A-level content for the first time.
We feel that the study of politics as a discreet subject gives students that opportunity to learn more about how countries, regional blocs and global government operate and the complex interdependence that exists in the 21st century, global political and economic system.
Research has shown that political education is often a neglected part of the curriculum and of preparing young people to be active citizens when they leave education and start to engage fully in democratic processes. As a department we are committed to giving students high quality teaching but also the necessary engagement with as much of the political world as possible, as such we have a thriving politics society, run by students who invite in a range of guest speakers, run and take part in 'Question Time' style debates, run monthly school wide polling and mock elections. As the department develops, we hope to expand the opportunities we offer lower down the school and start to run regular trips to support A-level teaching and broaden our horizons.
A level curriculum
The syllabus has two core elements: UK government and UK politics, and we teach the optional, global politics paper. We use Pearson Edexcel for our exam board and their webpage can be found here.
In Year 12 students study for the UK papers, alongside looking at three core political ideas: Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism.
In Year 13 students study the Global Politics paper alongside the non-core political idea: Nationalism.
A-level Politics requires students to think synoptically, which in this context means how aspects from any of the topics link to others, for example how conservatism has informed realist perspectives on Global Politics and how classical liberalism has developed into neoliberalism.
This culminates in the sitting of three papers at the end of year 13:
Paper One: UK Politics and core ideas: 2 hours, 33⅓% of the qualification and a total of 84 marks.
Paper Two: UK Government and non-core political ideas: 2 hours, 33⅓% of the qualification and a total of 84 marks.
Paper Three: Global Politics: 2 hours, 33⅓% of the qualification and a total of 84 marks.
The specification can be found here
Teaching staff
We split the teaching of the content between three staff currently: Mr J Reynolds (Head of Department), Mrs Louise Wareing and Mr Allen Martin. Their staff profiles can be found on the History department page.