• This has been a busy term preparing students for the external examinations.  Apart from our entries in Years 11,12 and 13, students in Year 10 were also entered for one module in Geography, History, RE and Sociology.  Revision sessions were held for Year 11 during the Easter break and during the May/June break in History and Geography for Year 10.
• Considerable effort was made to cover all the course content, to consolidate skills and to practise past questions in the period leading up to the Year 10 examinations. 
• We say a fond farewell to various staff in the Faculty – Mrs Black (Geography and RE), Mr Jurczak (History and Sociology) and Mrs Khan (who covered Mrs Habib’s maternity leave). They have all worked hard to support and develop the Faculty and we wish them every success in the future.

Religious Education

• Year 10 have taken their first module (Religious Philosophy) towards their GCSE course – the half course. There is no Controlled Assessment involved in this examination.  It is anticipated that most will continue in Year 11 with the Full Course.
• Year 9 have started their GCSE work already, which may provide greater flexibility with time issues in Years 10 and 11.
• All Year 9 groups had an outside speaker, who raised the question on the existence of God.  Students responded well and were eager to get involved.
• Year 8 have engaged well with this term’s project on designing a multi-denominational church (some even going as far as making the design from cake).
• All Year 7 participated in a re-enactment of a Passover meal, as part of their work on festivals.

Geography

• We have successfully implemented new courses at GCSE and GCE.
• The department has been working on the development of Controlled Assessment and the necessary fieldwork to implement this unit – it requires 20 hours of work in the classroom and 1 full day of fieldwork, as a minimum. Final work may be presented in a variety of formats.
• KS3 Schemes of Work are being updated, including findings from the Action Research Group CPD.

History

• New courses at GCSE and GCE have been implemented. 
• At GCSE, we chose to enter students for the first module in the June of Year 10, to reduce pressure of revision and to instil confidence.  The Paper was of an equivalent degree of difficulty to previous papers. The Controlled Assessment unit has been developed on the Cold War.  A full booklet of materials will be produced to allow Board set questions to be answered in subsequent years.
• Key Stage 3 Schemes of Work are being reviewed in light of our teaching and recent CPD.
• A letter has been written to the National Lottery Funding to support our involvement in the Maidenhead Heritage work on women flying Spitfires from White Waltham.  We will be working closely with the Museum staff to produce a unit of work on this topic and to assist in the presentation of the materials for the local community.

Sociology

• The subject has proved particularly popular, with a sufficient number of students to warrant 2 groups in September.  Staffing requires that Miss English and Mrs James take the Year 10 groups, allowing Ms Morris to focus on Year 11, AS and A2, supported by Mr Marris.
• Again, we wait to see the results of the Year 10 unit taken in June.

Politics, Economics, Pyschology

• All subjects continue to be popular choices at AS, with 2 groups in both Psychology and Politics.
• Our new RE teacher is a Politics’ graduate and will be able to support us here.

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