The school’s values are at the heart of our curriculum intent for Citizenship at Great Marlow School. We have
an important role to play in creating ‘confident, creative, enthusiastic, resilient, responsible and self motivated students who achieve their maximum potential.’
Our Department’s Vision: ‘Inspiring active and well-informed citizens for a better society.’
Our Department’s Aims
The Citizenship curriculum aims to enable all students to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding to help them thrive as individuals and play a full and active part in society as responsible, global citizens.
We aim to empower students to become ‘active’ citizens, exercising their democratic rights to raise awareness and push for positive change on issues that they are concerned about.
We want Citizenship education to enable students to be confident and make decisions for themselves.
Citizenship challenges students to develop:
CITICitizenship education is about empowering students to be confident. It helps students develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and to prepare them for life and work in modern Britain. The course requires them to take responsibility for their own lives and the community in which they live.
Citizenship education has three core themes: Democracy & Government, Rights & Equalities and Fairness & Justice. It challenges students to develop:
Citizenship education develops three key skills: Research & Interrogating Evidence, Debating & Evaluating Viewpoints and Taking Informed Action. It challenges students to develop:
There are dedicated classrooms, equipped with a PC, digital projector and DVD facilities. In addition, there is a wide selection of textbook resources. Qualified and experienced staff deliver the curriculum, with enthusiasm, to engage and motivate students.
Our Learning Journey shows what subjects or topics will be studied from Year 7 to Year 11 or Year 13. Each PDF is hyperlinked, so when you click on any year roundel, you will be taken to an In-Depth Learning Journey for that particular school year. You can scroll up or down to see other years or click on another year roundel.
CITIZENSHIP KS3 & KS4
The Wider Curriculum allows students to take a further interest in their subjects and subject related material they study at school. The Wider Curriculum also enables parents and carers to actively engage with the opportunities offered by each department. Each PDF is hyperlinked, so when you click on them, the links will take you to areas where you may read, view, listen, visit and be creative.
CITIZENSHIP WIDER CURRICULUM KS3 |
CITIZENSHIP WIDER CURRICULUM KS4 |
CITIZENSHIP WIDER CURRICULUM KS5 |
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At Key Stage 3 we focus on three Citizenship core themes:
Students develop key skills in knowledge, understanding and analysis. They develop skills and aptitude in critical thinking including being able to analyse information; express opinions; take part in discussions and debates; negotiate; engage with conflict resolution; and participate in community action.
Each half term the students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 follow a Citizenship curriculum, which aims to
Topic 1 – How to Build Your Own Country
Topic 2 – Communities and Identities
Topic 3 – Refugees
Topic 1 – British Democracy
Topic 2 – Human Rights
Topic 1 – Power and Influence
Topic 2 – Government and Parliament
Topic 3 – Model United Nations
Students can choose to study a GCSE in this subject.
The course content is divided into five themes:
A: Living together in the UK
This theme explores the idea that the UK is a diverse society of many different communities and groups that live together. Students will study the impact of migration and the nature of identity. They will also consider the different rights and freedoms we have in the UK, such as freedom of speech, tolerance and respect, plus, the checks and balances needed in relation to these, including debates about freedom of speech and the threat from terrorism.
B: Democracy at work in the UK
This theme investigates the idea of parliamentary democracy in the UK including voting and elections, the role of MPs, making and shaping law, also, how government is organised and kept in check.
C: Law and justice
Students explore why we need laws and how law affects us in our everyday lives. They consider how the justice system works in everyday life, including the roles and power of the police and the courts.
D: Power and influence
In this theme we question how people exercise power, either as ordinary citizens, the government or the media. We contrast representative democracy in the UK with other less democratic countries. We also explore the UK’s role in the world, addressing topics such as the United Nations, the European Union and our role in solving global issues such as war, human rights abuse and poverty.
E: Taking citizenship action
Students choose an issue that they find particularly interesting, form a team, investigate it, plan and carry out their own action to address it. At the end they evaluate what they learned from their action.
Assessment
There are two written papers (each worth 50%). Each examination paper contains a mix of shorter questions based on sources and extended-response questions based on citizenship issues. The second paper also contains a short section about the student’s citizenship action.
Recommendations
Citizenship Studies requires students to engage with current affairs and research political issues. It is highly recommended that students subscribe to a news ‘app’ on their smartphone and/or regularly read a news website or newspaper.
The following websites will be particularly useful: