Citizenship

In Year 7 pupils have one lesson a week of Citizenship taught in their House groups. Their lessons are delivered to encourage reflection using a mixture of discussion, role play and research of current British topics.

Such topics include:

• Their transition to secondary school and their new community
• The rights of a UK Citizen
• SEAL – the Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning
• Using their rights & responsibilities
• Being global Citizens – forming an island colony; the banana pricing game; Fair trade policies; tourism
• The history of the EU, its members and rules
• The role of a monarch
• UK politics & the history of Parliament

In Year 8 pupils also have one lesson a week of Citizenship taught in their House groups. Their lessons are delivered to encourage reflection with empathy through discursive, active engagement by all pupils covering a variety of British topics.

Such topics include:

• What is the Law? (Both Civil Law & Criminal Law)
• The work of a Police Officer – past & present
• The work of the UK courts
• Using a role play ‘Sentencing Circle’
• The role of the media – press freedom & spinning the news
• Programme scheduling
• Positive images – challenging stereotypes
• Refugees & Asylum seekers
• Human trafficking
• Using student voice
• ECM – the Every Child Matters agenda
• The Emergency Health Services of the NHS

Pupils in Key Stages 4 & 5 undertake an audit each year to identify where Citizenship threads occur in their individual lessons. These are compared to the annual teaching Citizenship audit undertaken by Subject Leaders – to ensure parity and the occurrence of key themes across the curriculum.