Curriculum - Humanities


The Humanities Faculty at Swanmore College teaches History, Geography, RE, Citizenship and PSHE. It embraces the ethos of diversity and identity through knowledge and understanding.

The History and Geography Departments are rated within the top ten in the county for Key Stage 3 and GCSE results. Both departments endeavour to meet the needs of every learning style to encompass every child in order to enhance pupil enjoyment and achievement. The work within the classrooms is varied and interesting using many different mediums to bring the subjects to life and to offer a wealth of experiences.

Religious Education at Swanmore is about providing a diverse education in many of the different creeds and cultures in our world today. It has a focus on the six main religions of the world in Years 7 – 9 and is delivered in a variety of engaging ways. In Years 10 and 11 pupils are offered a diet of Citizenship, RE and Personalised Learning in a tailored course. This course is based on moral issues and dilemmas facing global citizens in the twenty first century. Whilst parents have the right to decline religious education for their child, it is rare that this happens as the Humanities Faculty has worked towards providing a very well informed and balanced educational programme to encourage pupils to develop their opinions and arguments with developed factual knowledge and understanding of the subject.

The Faculty offers several trips for its pupils including visits to The Old Operating Theatre; The Science Museum; Portchester; Hengisbury Head and Iceland. The college site also offers opportunities for extensive Geography field work.

In addition to trips out we welcome many visitors in. These are mainly joint projects between PSHE and Citizenship. Every pupil in the college learns about World Peace Day and commemorates the Holocaust with survivors coming in to give a message of hope to the future generations. A programme of personal safety through awareness is delivered in a package of special event days encompassing Years 7 to 11 according to the appropriateness for their age group. These days look at such things as bereavement; 'Prison – No Way'; drug and alcohol awareness; keeping safe; healthy and safe lifestyles; dealing with risks.

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) education promotes healthier lifestyles and the College has gained the Healthy Schools Award demonstrating that there is ongoing provision, encouraging and motivating pupils to take responsibility for their well being in all areas of their lives. PSHE is delivered across the college and is re-enforced in all curriculum areas.

Assemblies in conjunction with the Humanities Faculty, are focused on national and international events e.g. Holocaust Memorial Day. House Assemblies are based on a citizenship agenda looking at different topics like democracy; sporting heroes; being British; what it means to be European; rights, respect and responsibilities. On many occasions we have visitors to assemblies representing the local community e.g. Rotary Club and on other occasions the visitors come from further afield, like youth representatives from Palestine, highlighting living in conflict and footsteps for peace.

The Humanities Faculty at Swanmore prides itself in creating citizens fit for the world they live in. Through the subjects taught in this area, pupils develop a sense of identity and a tolerance and acceptance of our society today. Our aim in Humanities is that all children leave Swanmore with the skills, knowledge and understanding of their local community, their national status and their place in an ever changing world.

 

GCSE Booster Classes - History

 

AFTER COLLEGE GCSE REVISION CLASSES

 

These will be starting again from Wednesday 14 September 2011.

Drop-in’ revision sessions for history will be held on Wednesdays from 3.10 – 4.30  pm.


 

Before the Easter break 42 Key Stage 4 pupils ventured out to the north-western reaches of our continent to visit Iceland.


First stop on the trip was at the Blue Lagoon, a geo-thermal spa, which was a welcome respite after the flight. Once we had all soaked in the hot waters and were suitably relaxed we ventured to our hotel, the Hotel Cabin in Reykjavik.
The next day we departed for our ‘South Shore’ adventure, the first stop was at the Skόgarfoss waterfall standing at a mighty 60 metres tall, we didn’t have to get too close before we were all suitably drenched from the spray! Our adventure then continued to the black basalt beaches of the Dyrolaey coast where coastal features such as arches, caves, stacks and stumps were seen. The next stop for the day was a walk on the Sόlheimajökull glacier tongue where pupils were able to observe the power of the ice on the environment. Our final stop for the day was a walk behind the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which stands 40 metres high and provided another opportunity to rinse off in the spray before heading back to the hotel.


On Sunday we embarked on the ‘Golden circle’ excursion. This took us to another incredible waterfall, Gullfoss. Here the water plummets down a double cascade into a 70 metre deep, 2.5km long gorge, before flowing out to sea. We then arrived at the Geyser centre and witnessed the Great Geyser spouting up to approximately 20 metres high every 10 minutes or so, powered by geo-thermal activity. Once various videos and photos had been taken and the smell of sulphur had become too much for us, we moved on to our last stop of the excursion, þingvellir National Park. This National shrine and World Heritage site provided an excellent viewing point of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a 7km wide rift valley which creates a geographical ‘no-mans land’ between the continents of Europe and North America.

After we had all packed our bags ready to fly home we ventured out on our final objective; seeing the Northern Lights. We walked a short distance to the shore line from our hotel in Reykjavik and we waited for the darkness to set in.  Some time later and a number of dubious ‘I can see it’ shouts from the pupils we gave up hope and strolled back to the hotel. Whilst walking back to the hotel there were many disappointed gazes over the horizon and then suddenly one pupil spotted a faint shifting band of green light across the night’s sky. Whilst there were some non-believers, a number of pupils and staff were happy to say they had seen the Northern Lights, which seemed like the perfect end to an incredible trip.