Taunton Deane Partnership College

Citizenship Overview 2023/2024

Key Stage 3-4

Intent

Citizenship education at the TDPC seeks to provide students with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society. We aim to encourage, develop and promote a greater awareness and understanding of democracy, government and how laws are made and upheld. This helps prepare our students to take their place in society as responsible, well-rounded and well-informed active citizens. For our learners it is vital they are supported on their journey to help them become informed and responsible citizens.

Student engagement in the classroom not only covers the core components of the syllabus but also helps build contextual layers from a foundation level for our learners whose own experiences have significant gaps. In addition, a further aim is to broaden their knowledge of the society they live in whilst encouraging them to have the confidence to challenge viewpoints and the narrative of their own environment.

The syllabus and nature of citizenship provides opportunities to introduce key vocabulary. Our intent is to build learners communication skills by increasing not only their vocabulary but also their ability to develop well balanced arguments. Cross curricular links include the opportunity to develop speaking and listening skills to support their work in English.

Implementation

Many of the young people who attend the TDPC have had a disrupted learning journey and may find formal, classroom-based academic learning challenging, with this in mind students are taught in small groups with activities and work differentiated to ensure all learning styles, needs and abilities are met. To achieve our ambitions, we use differentiated questioning and resources as well as creating individual learning programmes for those who will benefit from additional support. We aim to develop students' knowledge in:

Life in Modern Britain

Rights and Responsibilities

Politics and Participation

These will be augmented by the use of debates and discussion, we will seek to challenge some embedded misconceptions and some students will be given the opportunity to visit a Crown Court and the Houses of Parliament, to build a wider knowledge of the legal system and democracy to help our learners understand where political power resides and how government is devolved to a local level. The use of primary sources to help reinforce the principles and values in British society will include engagement with local businesses and talks by individuals.

In Year 11 students will be encouraged to sit the Citizenship GCSE exam in the Summer Term and there will be lessons and extended sessions focusing on exam techniques.

Impact

The impact will be measured in a number of ways, including a successful GCSE outcomes, softer skills such as increased self-esteem and confidence and a wider understanding of society, students will be able to evidence their learning through AQA awards. Introducing learners to positive role models will help challenge attitudes and behaviours encouraging learners to make a difference in modern British society. We encourage our students to enjoy and value the curriculum we deliver. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact citizenship has on not just their learning, but also their behaviour, aspirations, relationships with others, development and well-being. We feel the way we implement citizenship helps children understand the skills and values they need to succeed in life, upon which they can continue to build on in their next stage of education and beyond.