This month, we’re welcoming David Shanks back with his 3rd blog for us… And so, school is no longer “out for summer” and another lengthy wait to hear Alice Cooper’s classic on the radio begins. We are learning new student names, dusting off the teaching cobwebs and are most proud of our shiny new stationery […]
Read moreGiven the number of recent politically related international and national events, I would be safe in saying that as a British public we are more aware than ever of ‘political policy’ and its impact. Brexit; Presidential elections; general elections – to name but a few – have given rise to a wealth of conversations about […]
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One of the ways that I like to stretch my most able students is by offering them the opportunity to enter nationwide geography competitions. The benefits of this are threefold: students get the chance to challenge themselves and expand their geographical knowledge; the profile of the geography department is raised; and older students gain valuable […]
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“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member” Groucho Marx To help prospective students to understand what sort of work they would be expected to do in Psychology and to give me a chance to assess their skills and motivation, I ask any student who does not meet […]
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Some years ago, the department I was in at the time analysed the A Level and GCSE results of everyone who took Psychology. They found that the best predictor of performance on the A Level was Additional Science or the average grade that a student achieved in Triple Science. If students had a B or […]
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Standing at the centre of the world: it’s a compelling image. But just who or what is at the “centre”, and what does planting that centre do to our knowledge? Clearly, this question of “centrism” threads through the Theory of Knowledge course, and there are plenty of good entry points to take students into discussion […]
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From Agent Wonka to Big Friendly Zombies, snozsprouts to puckleberries, this year’s entrants to the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition show how Roald Dahl’s language continues to inspire them. At the end of Roald Dahl’s much-loved tale of The BFG, the eponymous giant is inspired to take up storywriting, and generations of Dahl’s young readers have done likewise, using […]
Read moreShutterstock ID 156658052; Graham Elsdon looks at ways to begin an A level literature course with year 12 Never will you have such a captive audience as the one labelled ‘Year 12: September’. They arrive uncertain of the variety and taste of the subject they’ve actually chosen to study. As a teacher, you are […]
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As the summer holidays rapidly become a distant memory and we find ourselves dealing with all that another busy school year brings, this September will also see many of you starting to teach a new GCSE Psychology specification. There are potentially many questions that you may have when faced with the newness and the unknown […]
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During the spring term we decided as a department to develop a Scheme of Work that would prepare our Year 9 students more effectively for the demands of the new GCSE course. We delivered the lessons around the time of options choices to give the students a realistic idea of what GCSE geography would be […]
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