Social Studies
Social Studies at CFGS is a unique and exciting course that combines elements of the national curriculum’s Citizenship and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) content.
Social Studies empowers students to make a difference in the world. It teaches British values, democracy, fairness and justice, defends human rights and celebrates diversity. By examining power relationships, systems of government and law, students develop political literacy. They are given the skills to weigh up evidence and form their own conclusions, and the confidence and language skills to communicate these to others.
Social Studies teaches students to be financially and environmentally responsible, giving them the tools to be active citizens in their local, national or global communities. Students are challenged to be persuasive, evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns, and take real-world actions for change. Every child is given the opportunity to make a meaningful connection to the local community.
Social Studies equips students to navigate both the physical and the online world, teaching e-safety and developing skills in research, critical thinking and source analysis. This means they are able to identify bias in media, dispel myths, and distinguish opinion from fact independently; essential skills needed to prevent radicalization, debunk conspiracy theories and identify fake news.
Social Studies at CFGS encourages students’ spiritual, moral and cultural development. Its PSHE elements teach students the knowledge and skills needed to make important decisions in their lives to keep safe, healthy and realize their goals. It provides practical solutions for the challenges they may face in the world, such as tackling issues of gender inequality and violence against women and girls.
Social Studies is taught to all students at KS3 and KS4 to ensure they have the depth and breadth of knowledge to enable them to make informed choices in their lives.
KEYSTAGE 3
Social Studies students are assessed regularly and formatively within lessons and periodically as mid-unit or end of unit assessment. The year 7, 8 and 9 course is tailored to prepare students for the Citizenship GCSE, if they choose to take the course. To reflect the skills required at GCSE, the KS3 course assess students on their:
- Source analysis
- Persuasive Argument: Ability to reason, argue and conclude
- Active Citizenship: the planning, delivery and evaluation of citizenship action
- Knowledge and understanding of active citizenship, politics and participation, life in modern Britain, and rights and responsibilities
Analysis of source based questions will be varied to incorporate the wide variety of sources relevant to citizenship and modern life today including newspaper articles, photographs, and website excerpts. Students will have to interpret what these sources can tell us about people’s varying views and opinions; and analyse citizenship ideas, issues and debates.
Ability to reason, argue and conclude will be assessed in extended writing pieces which will also be assessed for SPAG and literacy skills. Use of evidence will aid a students’ ability to do this effectively and so knowledge and understanding of relevant information is crucial here.
Delivery and evaluation of citizenship actions will give students the opportunity to act on the knowledge and understanding they have gained about methods and approaches that can be used by individuals and groups to address citizenship issues in society and to bring about change or resist change where appropriate. Finally students will be required to reflect on their action and evaluate its success
Knowledge and understanding will usually be assessed within every assessment. We will be assessing the student’s understanding of citizenship of modern Britain and the wider world. This knowledge and understanding provides the building blocks for tackling the higher level skills required: action, reason, analysis and evaluation. Students will develop an understanding of the following key concepts throughout the course; democratic participation, governance, law and justice, volunteering, work of charities and pressure groups, rights and responsibilities, sustainable development, fairness, justice, challenging discrimination, managing personal finances, healthy relationships, consent.
| TERM & THEME | YEAR 7 |
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Autumn Term 1 Me and My School |
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Autumn Term 2 Global Citizenship |
Assessment Source analysis: rights and responsibilities
Keeping safe online
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Spring Term 1 LGBT History Month activities Me and My Community |
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Spring Term 2 Me and My Community |
Assessment Persuasive argument: make a case for a new service in the local community |
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Summer Term 1 Growing Up |
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Summer Term 2 Campaigns |
Assessment Active Citizenship: present their campaign as part of the year 7 campaign fair |
| TERM & THEME | YEAR 8 |
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Autumn Term 1 UK Politics |
Assessment Source analysis: including identification of fact, opinion and bias |
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Autumn Term 2 Refugees and Migration |
Assessment Source analysis: including identification of fact, opinion and bias |
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Spring Term 1 Economics |
Assessment Active citizenship: plan and evaluate a campaign on an economics
LGBT History Month activities - about the unacceptability of sexist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist and disablist language and behaviour, the need to challenge it and how to do so. |
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Spring Term 2 PSHEE |
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Summer Term 1 Alternative Forms of Government |
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Summer Term 2 Alternative Forms of Government |
Assessment Persuasive argument: make a case for the most effective form of government |
| TERM & THEME | YEAR 9 |
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Autumn Term 1 Criminal and Civil Law |
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Autumn Term 2 Criminal and Civil Law |
Assessment Source analysis: including identification of fact, opinion and bias |
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Spring Term 1 Critical Thinking |
LGBT History Month activities – about the unacceptability of sexist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist and disablist language and behaviour, the need to challenge it and how to do so. |
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Spring Term 2 Critical Thinking |
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Summer Term 1 Violence Against Women and Girls |
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Summer Term 2 Violence Against Women and Girls |
Assessment Active citizenship: plan and evaluate a campaign on a VAWG issue |
KEYSTAGE 4
| TERM & THEME | YEAR 10 |
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Autumn Term 1 Democracy and Participation in the UK |
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Autumn Term 2 Pressure Group Action |
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Spring Term 1 The Role of Charities in the Local Community |
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Spring Term 2 Group Charity Project |
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Summer Term 1 Group Charity Project |
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Summer Term 2 Personal Finance |
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| TERM & THEME | YEAR 11 |
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Autumn Term 1 Global Environment |
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Autumn Term 2 Global Environment |
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Spring Term 1 LGBT History Month Activities |
International relations
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Spring Term 2 International Relations |
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Summer Term 1 Colourism |
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ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT KEYSTAGE 3 AND 4
- Trips to Parliament, the Bank of England, Museum of London, local community
- Black History Month trail
- Participating in Amnesty campaigns
- Participating in a global citizenship fair
- Charity fundraising
- Model United Nations programme
- Mock trials competition
- Visits by representatives from charities, pressure groups and politicians
USEFUL WEBSITES, RESOURCES, REVISION MATERIALS AND EXEMPLAR WORK
- All CFGS students can access The Day (www.theday.co.uk) from the CFGS homepage. This has daily articles about current affairs.
- News channels: www.bbc.co.uk; https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround
- Charities: https://www.redcross.org.uk/; https://www.amnesty.org.uk/;
- Healthy relationships: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
- LGBT History Month: https://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/
- Environmental issues https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/
- Law: https://lawstuff.org.uk/
- Children’s Rights: https://www.unicef.org.uk