Humanities
Within the overall department of Humanities, all students are taught the subjects of Geography, History and Religious Education at KS3 so that they develop a detailed knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live. To develop this awareness students are encouraged to express their views and ask questions so that they become involved and committed citizens who recognise they have a positive part to play in society and understand how past actions may shape future events.
To enhance student enjoyment there are many out of school visits such as to White Scar Caves in Geography, Skipton Castle in History and visits to religious places of worship in Religious Education. An exciting current development is the partnership we are developing with a school in Boston, USA which will involve a number of KS4 students in video link up sessions so they can learn about other people and places.
The department has seven specialist humanities rooms complete with interactive whiteboards and Video/DVD projection as well as some computer workstations along with access to an ICT suite.
The department also offers a wide range of extra curricular activities including GCSE revision, "drop in sessions" after school and "Stop the Traffik" giving students opportunities to discover more about thier world.
Humanities Year 7
All students in year 7 follow and integrated Humanities curriculum. This involves the study of Geography, History and RE through a themeatic approach. Through Humanities lessons year 7 have the opportunity to gain skills such as working as part of a team and becoming an independent learner.
Some of the themes studied are as follows:
Beginnings: looking into the origins of the universe ,settlement, The Romans.
Celebrations: studying religious and secular celebrations from different cultures e.g Divali, Christmas, Remembrance day.
Journeys: Journey around the world looking at different people places and cultures.
Pirates
Disasters: Hurricannes / Tornados / Coping with disasters
Discoveries: Vikings / Anglo Saxons / Ieland / India
There are many opportunities for students to experience many different learning styles in our year 7 learning base. Activities such as drama, music, art, creative writing, team building and poetry regularly take place and there have been many opportunities for visits out of school to enhance teaching and learning.
Humanities Club
Mr Wilkinson was lucky to spend a weekend in Cologne, Germany working with teachers from across Europe. The teachers he was working with were from Germany, Macedonia, Turkey, the UK and Sweden. The aim was to create some partnerships with schools on different projects. There were some really good ideas from teachers who work in some very different schools than Blackpool! Mr Wilkinson has set up a project with a German school and a Turkish school. The project will be working with some year 10 students looking at who was responsible for the start of WW1. This is a really interesting project as students in Turkey and Germany may have a different opinion than the students in the UK.
It is really important for everyone to understand different cultures and how different communities work together. If you are intersted in this type of learning then Mr Wilkinson runs a regular club for all learners at 1.30pm every Tuesday in HU5. It would be great to see you there!
