This year, the faculty appointed Student Leaders to represent the faculty and contribute to its vision.  The leaders, taken from Years 10 to 13, have attended meetings and each taken on a responsibility.  For instance, Jack Mirkovic and James Dodwell have been Social Sciences reporters.  Chloe Barry and Jessica used their photography skills to illustrate examples of activities within the Faculty. We have Wow ambassadors, who are helping staff with ideas to improve the learning environment.  Social Science student leaders regularly contribute and even deliver aspects of lessons. For example,  Leon Hirsch has been supporting KS4 Economics students; Tom Canning and Jack Mirkovic have been members of panels to judge KS4/5 Business challenges.

LAW by James Dodwell

A Level Law continues to be a popular choice for our 6th Form Students. Since the beginning of the school term Year 12 students have been learning all about the English Legal System – how laws are made, the court process and the people working in the courts. Ms Knowles, who has been taking the lessons has said that the class are “working well and making good progress”. More recently, the Year 12 students have been studying negligence law.

Alongside the workings of the Year 12 class, Year 13 students are close to finishing the course altogether. The class are in the process of recalling all their contextual knowledge together from their previous two years of study of the subject of law and are using this to explore concepts of law such as law’s relationship with morality [what is right and wrong behaviour], with justice and how right it is for judges to ever make law.

Students have also recently attended the Houses of Parliament as part of their enrichment activities.

PSYCHOLOGY by Jack Mirkovic

During the recent Social Sciences Enrichment Day students had the opportunity to discover various topics around the subject. Ms Knight and Ms Lindau ran an interesting session with year 9 students looking at various aspects of psychology from children’s development to why we conform to authority figures. Part of this meant showing students an interesting video to test their perception when watching a video on YouTube, trying to spot a Gorilla. We were able to show that how much we pay attention to something can significantly affect our memory.

SOCIOLOGY – Jack Mirkovic

Ambassadors observed an A Level Sociology lesson. Students were learning how to format a 10 mark question’s answer. They were creating a spider diagram of all the different points they could use for their answers and identifying all of the sociologists and statistics that can use as evidence in their answer. Students felt this really helped them plan and revise for their examinations.

Students have also recently been on a trip to the Clink Museum in London as part of their enrichment activities.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS – Orran Syms/Jack Mirkovic/Dylan Foss/Hashim Minhas

It has been a busy year for the department. Year 9 students had the opportunity to discover about both subjects during the Social Science enrichment day. Topics covered included the role of entrepreneurship, the importance of financial government, globalisation and the stock market. Ambassadors and staff were impressed with the participation of all Year 9 students during these activities.

Year 11 business students have completed their Controlled Assessments in which they had to research, analyse and evaluate a local enterprise. Considerable effort was put into their projects and there are some outstanding results. It was pleasing to see so many local enterprises offering their time, advice and guidance to support our business students in their research activities.

Year 13 business students completed a research task challenge on ‘globalisation’ and its impact on a UK registered organisation. Hashim commented “our team chose Aston Martin; as it is a niche car manufacturer recognised as a quality British brand. Globalisation is when a business decides to start operating on an international scale by setting up production overseas or exporting. We researched the history and operations of the business which was founded in 1913;  making them one of the oldest car manufacturers in the world. We looked at their product portfolio and listed some of their most notable cars and designs for the future.

Despite a focus on high specification sports car we discovered that the company have a strong ethical policy regarding their impact on the environment and linked to our theoretical studies like Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line business model. Our presentation concluded that particularly with the impact of Brexit, Aston Martin is now targeting Asian and Chinese markets where there is a growing middle class with higher disposable income. Aston Martin’s Formula 1 presence is critical in driving sales in these emerging markets where the sport is popular, like China. There international presence, is further enhanced by their product placement activities as the car of choice for James Bond in the movie franchise”.

Dylan Foss’ team focused on JCB discussing how they are “one of the most quietly successful UK manufacturers who have always looked global to grow the organisation. For example, they have now built at Brazilian factory, which reduces costs as it is near to the primary resources and works in conjunction with their government to create jobs and wealth in the local community. We presented our research projects to Ms Lewis and Mr Searle, who gave us in-depth feedback of on research, presentation skills and tips for our summer examinations.”

Year 13 students enjoyed a trip to London on the school’s March enrichment day. Orran Syms commented “we visited the Bank of England and learnt about how the bank started and how it operates today. We saw how currency has evolved over time, how banks affect the economy and the power of interest rates. I was even able to pick up a gold bar weighing in at 13kg that was worth £400,000.  We then went on to visit Borough market for lunch where we looked at all the small food business operating various stalls. We got to see food from so many cultures and taste some too. The array of different foods on display was incredible, whatever type of food you wanted it was available at the market. I never realised just how much the market had to offer until actually going and experiencing it. The market is a great place for food entrepreneurs to sell their produce and is a great pull to both UK residents and tourists”

Year 11 Business students have worked hard this year, to set up an enterprise selling food and drinks to compliment many of the activities run by the Performing Arts department. Mr Knowles has appreciated their support.  It enabled the students to gain experience of co-ordinating an enterprise, pricing and customer service. Well done to Max Hamilton, Nathan Bradley, Andreas Michalis, George Sordillo, Ben Deutrom and Warren Ellis for all their hard work!