SOCIOLOGY

Staffing

Mrs J Chapman – Head of Department

Vision

GCSE Sociology helps students to gain knowledge and understanding of key social structures, processes and issues through the study of families, education, crime and deviance and social stratification.

Sociology is an exciting, illuminating and highly relevant field of study that analyses and explains important matters in our personal lives, our communities, and the world. Pupils are ignited and enthused by the subject because it’s relevant to them – they are living it!

Learning and teaching

Students are encouraged to develop their analytical, assimilation and communication skills by comparing and contrasting perspectives on a variety of social issues, constructing reasoned arguments, making substantiated judgements and drawing reasoned conclusions. By studying sociology, students will develop transferable skills including how to:

• investigate facts and make deductions

• develop opinions and new ideas on social issues

• analyse and better understand the social world.

The Sociology Department has one teaching room within the Humanities base. The classroom has a computer, smartboard and webcam. The department shares six computers and a bank of laptops with the Geography and History department. All ICT facilities are used by the pupils for research and extended learning.

Enriching Learning

The department offers students the opportunity to attend after-school revision classes to prepare for their GCSEs; one to one tuition is available for students who are not achieving their target grades.

The department also offers all GCSE Sociology pupils the chance to conduct their own Sociological experiment on an area they are interested in.

Assessment

Assessment at Key Stage Four:

Aims:

• To show pupils that their work is valuable and matters

• To get pupils to take responsibility for their own learning, progress and exam preparation

• For pupils to get regular feedback to aid progress

• For pupils to experience assessment tasks that reflect the GCSE examination

• For pupils to have, and know, their target grade and be working towards achieving them

• For pupils to achieve their predictions in the final examination.