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Humanities

Our Faculty Mission Statement is:

In the Humanities family we aim to promote education of the past, present and future to make sense of our world today. We are in scholarly pursuit of excellence by creating global Catholic citizens who are enthusiastic lifelong learners. With faith in God our learning is a journey to achieve success at St. James’ and beyond.

The Humanities faculty aims to build global Catholic citizens by developing pupils’ wider awareness of local, national and global issues both past and present. We build our curriculum around the British values of democracy, power, freedom and the rule of law, whilst working closely with other departments to form cross-curricular links.

The study of Geography should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them throughout their lives. We aim to cultivate an enthusiasm about pupils’ local, national and global environment. This is achieved by adopting a wide variety of teaching methods and assessments including participation in fieldwork activities.

The overall theme of Year 7 year is Place and Space, where students understand our position in the world. Students look at the relationship between human geography (Population, India) and physical geography (tectonics, glaciation, natural resources) and how one affects the other. Students are introduced to the theme of climate change, a topic that dominates all of Key Stage 3, as well as to skills that are essential in Geography, such as OS map skills and data analysis.

The overall theme of Year 8 is Nature and Society, where students continue to acknowledge the relationship between people and the environment.  Students look at the power of nature (weather, coasts, deserts) and how it can restrict humans. Students also look at differences in society around the globe (Japan, the Middle East, the UK) and how human actions in turn have an impact on nature (Industry).

The theme of Year 9 is Global Change. In Rivers, students look at how rivers change the land, providing examples from around the world, whilst also looking at how human actions can cause an impact, such as during flooding. Students then progress to human geography by investigating the development gap in Africa and then by deciding whether Russia is a superpower. Russia has a very significant relationship with the following topic of Energy, which looks at sustainable alternatives to non-renewable energy resources.  The final topic of Year 9 focuses on a series of current, global issues, for example, tourism, the rainforest and migration.

The History department follows a strict chronological framework that features events starting from the Anglo-Saxon era up to the modern day. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum that covers a variety of topics and develops pupils’ skills of analysis, evaluation and source interpretation. We focus on the significance of individuals, why events both big and small happened and why people can have different opinions and interpretations of the same event. We aim to create individuals who can write, think and understand the importance of the past and its links to the present day.

Beginning History in Year 7, we assess baseline skills of chronology, source evaluation and bias. Our curriculum starts with the Anglo-Saxon and Viking era and how it links to the Norman Conquest. Students then go on to look at how the Normans established control and the changes to everyday Medieval life that this caused. From here we jump to the Reformation of the 16th century and the subsequent upheavals in Tudor and Stuart religion. We finish the year studying the English Civil War.

In Year 8 we concentrate on Britain’s role in the wider world. We start by looking at the motivations behind the First British Empire in the Americas and then understanding the legacy of the Second British Empire, especially in India. We link our understanding of the Americas to a study of the continent over time; beginning with a focus on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and concluding by documenting the civil rights movements of the 1960s.  We then move much closer to home by analysing Manchester’s role in the Industrial Revolution and finish the year by incorporating these themes of industrialisation and imperialism to evaluate the long and short term causes of World War One.
A study of the changing nature of warfare seen during World War One is the first study of Year 9. The ‘war to end all wars’ is the first chapter of a year that focusses on the challenges that faced Britain, Europe and the wider world. A study of the interwar years in America allow us to understand the causes of the Great Depression, World War Two and the rise of dictators in the 1930s. A study of the horrors of the Holocaust allow us to understand the significance of learning about such a harrowing topic. We then continue our chronology by looking at the role of geography in deciding the key events of World War Two. We finish Key Stage 3 by learning about the main flashpoints of the Cold War and, when possible, linking the challenges of the 20th century to the issues of the 21st.
History at GCSE combines depth studies with much broader, thematic studies. In Year 10 we remain in the 20th century, analysing the failure to avoid another conflict after World War One and documenting the changing nature of power in Germany from 1890-1945. In our second Paper, we study Health and the People over 1000 years and focus on Elizabeth I in depth. We complement our studies with residential trips that in the past have included Berlin, the Western Front and Auschwitz

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

Marcus Garvey

Jesus looked at them and said,
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”

Matthew 19:26

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