Where We Teach

The Humanities Faculty is housed in 6 rooms in the H block, which has its own attached computer suite. We also have a few other rooms around the College: E6 and E12. Each room is equipped with a PC and data projector.
Staff can often be found in their teaching rooms or the H block at break and lunchtimes.

KS3 Humanities – the ICE programme

The ICE (Impington Curriculum Experience) programme has been designed to improve students’ learning. It takes the main concepts of the IB learner profile and aims to embed these within students at an early age. Units and lessons are designed to do this, whether in Geography, History or RE. Therefore we focus on key skills such as research and writing skills, plus source or data interpretation.

Year 7

We start Year 7 by studying the main ways of learning in Geography, History and RE. Students will, for example, plan and locate their own restaurant. We then look at a variety of different topics such as the beliefs and practices of Buddhism, how the Industrial Revolution changed the world and the Geography of Crime.

Year 8

In Year 8 we begin by looking at how our world has become much more interconnected, such as through the food industry or the spread of religion (such as Islam). Units to appear later in the year include ideas about how slavery in the Americas has affected us today, the structure of the Jewish religion, and how we can protect ourselves against flooding.

Home Learning Pledge

Key Stage 3 (Year 7 & 8) – 3 pieces of homework per half term where appropriate, which may be set as a longer Home Learning Project

KS4

Subject Areas:

Business Studies

The course starts with an Enterprise activity. In Year 9 students learn about what it means to be enterprising, how to plan an enterprise activity by working within a team, and making sure the activity is something their customers will want to pay for!  

At GCSE level (specification OCR) students learn about various topics such as marketing and business finance. We also learn about the wider economy - nationally, Europe-wide and globally. Students find out what a recession is, how jobs can be created to fuel economic growth, and much more.

EPS

The EPS course deals with issues of life and morality and also the study of religion. The course is very closely linked to the world we live in and it is essential that students appreciate what is happening in the news on a daily basis. Students are expected to be opinionated, so it is essential to be able to argue your point! Students are also asked to consider different perspectives and why people may have opposing views. 
In Year 9, students begin their GCSE (specification AQA A) looking at Life Issues, such as Animal Rights and Prejudice. This then continues into Year 11 with topics such as Life after Death and Medical Ethics. The two religions chosen for study [Christianity and Islam] have influenced life in Britain in differing ways throughout History.

Geography

In Year 9 we focus on the skills and background knowledge required for GCSE, such as using resources independently, reading maps, and the reasons why some countries are more developed than others. The GCSE course itself starts midway through the year and continues into Years 10 and 11. We begin with Natural Hazards (such as volcanoes and tropical storms).

Further GCSE units include the growth in world population, how cities around the world are changing, and how we can defend ourselves against flooding. One of the two exam papers involves decision making, where students will be given a scenario and asked to justify the best decision to deal with it (specification OCR B).

We complete one piece of fieldwork on the North Norfolk Coast which forms the basis for our controlled assessment. We also offer a trip in Year 10 to the Alps region.

History 

In History during Year 9 in the Autumn term, we study the Suffragettes and then the First World War. We begin the GCSE Course after Christmas, starting with Medicine through Time. This is both a source-based and extended writing unit, which covers the History of Medicine from prehistory up to the creation of the NHS. Students should expect some gore!

The GCSE course (specification OCR A) also covers Germany 1919-45, Public Health 1800-1914 (a source-based paper) and then a controlled assessment on the Arab-Israeli Conflict. In lessons students will be covering the key content and practising the different types of exam questions, to maximise the chances of success. We also offer trips to the Battlefields and Berlin.

Home Learning Pledge

Students will be expected to do one piece of homework every week. This may include research, revision for assessments, exam questions, etc.