Government and Politics
Head of Department: Mr J.D.C. Gillings
Acting Head of Department: Mr D.R.K. Robb
Government and Politics was first offered as a sixth form option in 2002, and the department occupies a suite of classrooms in the Cloisters. There is a full programme of outside speakers invited to the Politics Society, a weekly Politics Forum to discuss topical issues outside the classroom, and an annual visit for the upper sixth to Washington DC , where the department has excellent contacts. We intend to broaden the programme of curricular visits in the future to include Strasbourg.
The department is staffed by:
Mr J.D.C. Gillings BA
Mr D.R.K. Robb MA
Course content
The department currently follows the Edexcel examination specification. For further details of course content, and pattern of assessment, follow this link. The modular structure of the course allows us to vary the pattern of assessment, and can be tailored to the needs of individual pupils. Whilst most pupils will take the AS units at the end of the L6th, and the A2 units at the end of the U6th, in some cases pupils will be entered for one AS unit in January of the L6th, depending on the ability and progress of pupils.
AS
The L6th AS modules consist of three units: People and Politics; Governing the UK; and The Changing UK system. These are all based on a study of the UK political system. They reflect the belief that the study of Politics should consist of more than a description of institutions: that a more valuable analysis will include examination of political processes as well as an evaluation of the increasing fragility of the current constitutional position – in other words, the current problems of the UK system
A2
The upper sixth A2 course consists of two units which study the American system in depth: Representation in the USA, and Governing the USA. The sixth unit is a synoptic one, in which knowledge of the previous units is assumed, and which examines the similarities and contrasts between the two systems.