Citizenship

Our Citizenship GCSE complements the school curriculum in guiding students in their pursuit of knowledge, understanding and curiosity, and encouraging thoughtful and motivated students who are passionate about learning and community.

It intends to:

• provide powerful knowledge about our civic society and social world, instilling optimism for the future as members of society
• develop a high level of civic literacy, enabling our students to engage in modern British society in a thoughtful, critical and informed way and in doing so fulfil their civic responsibility to engage powerfully with our democracy
• provide social and cultural literacy, which will enable students to engage fully in British culture, society, literature, and the arts, all of which aid in building resilience and encouraging students to partake fully in their communities
• develop a working knowledge of and practical appreciation for the diverse range of groups and cultures present in our school, local and national community, which enables true empathy to develop and be shown in appropriate ways
• instil an understanding of and respect for the fundamental British values of democracy, tolerance, individual liberty and the rule of law
• enable our students to engage actively and productively in the social, cultural, religious, civic and political life of the United Kingdom as thoughtful and reflective citizens, committed to not just their own success, but that of society.

Through our Citizenship curriculum, we intend to induct students into the epistemology and skills of Social Sciences. We seek to develop students’ capacity to:

• analyse critically the different perspectives, explanations and arguments of others
• develop reasoned and well justified lines of argument in a variety of academic contexts
• apply the principles of empirical research and evidence-gathering to different research questions and contexts.

Alongside this, we seek to develop the skills and dispositions to allow our students to take effective and informed Citizenship action, and to work together to build a thriving school and wider community.

Curriculum plan - further details of the curriculum can be found in the curriculum plan below.

Textbooks, references and useful resources