Humanities

 At Burnholme humanities is an important subject area, focussing as it does on what is a fundamental trait for cultures: to be able to live in tolerance and harmony. ‘Humanities’ is concerned with developing our understanding of our history, our place in the world and the nature of our beliefs – and it helps us to understand our own lives in our multicultural society. Humanities are important, as they are about people, about us, about our environment and it helps us to understand how to make our world better for us and our future generations. It is all about people and the relationship between different communities.

In KS3 pupils study geography, history, religious education and citizenship for an hour each.  At KS4, students choose geography or history to study at GCSE level.

The kinds of topics studied at KS3 include: where in the world, restless Earth; the Roman empire, the Cold war, science vs. religion, comparative views on belief and worship, active citizenship.  At KS4 topics include: terrorism, the collapse of the USSR, population change, globalisation, rights and responsibilities, democracy, war and peace

The humanities department organised an educational trip to Berlin in 2011, and have organized a trip to Paris with MFL to Paris for this academic year.  There are geography field trips, geography ambassadors come in to promote the subject, history workshops about the Holocaust, local democracy talks and visits to council chambers to be arranged. The Philosophy debating club is running this year.

Humanities teaching and learning is very good and the students enjoy the subjects that are delivered. The staff also contribute outside the classroom to many different whole school events, trips etc. The classroom environments and displays are colourful and engaging so that students learn from their surroundings as well as from their peers and their teachers. We use a variety of learning activities in humanities from role-plays to creative arts to express the work done in the department and to engage students at all times.