Humanities Blog
February 2012
After an extremely busy first term, New Year in the History department kicked off with a visit to Wolverhampton University for the annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture on 18th January. Twenty Year 10 and 11 pupils listened to Hungarian Holocaust survivor George Pogany, who was 17 when the Nazis invaded his country, relate his experiences. The pupils welcomed the opportunity to hear about this horrendous period of history first hand and an OSCA pupil even got to ask Mr Pogany a question (well done Audrey!).
Year 11 History pupils sat their first GCSE exam on 23rd January and proved their dedication by coming in on the Saturday beforehand to revise. Their dedication will be pushed further to the limits when we visit Dudley castle in a couple of weeks to gather information for their controlled assessment; its particularly cold and windy at the top of the keep in February!
Elsewhere, Year 8 pupils have started their homework projects and the quality of some of them so far is outstanding. The best year 9 Homework projects won copies of Michael Morpurgo’s ‘War Horse’ at the start of this term (congratulations to those pupils who won). Who will produce the best year 8 projects? It’ll be posted here at a later date.
September 2011 - Geography
Geographers have had a busy term already but it all started with celebrating the success of our Y11’s from last year, well done! Geography has a truly international feel this year with Mr. Hodgkinson (South African) and Miss Whitfield (Canadian) delivering all the Geography lessons this year. Some of the Y7 groups have started looking at the topic of migration. The images of African migrants arriving on Spanish beaches have led to some very good discussions in lessons.
The Y8’s are taking an in depth look at the country of Brazil where the main focus will be about the Favela’s that can be found in the cities. The Y9’s started by doing a survey of their bag! Yes they did a lesson emptying their bags and finding out where all their stuff comes from. They will be looking at Globalisation this term and the effects it has on us and on other places.
The Y10’s consumed Jelly babies in their first week! They used the Jelly babies to simulate how the world’s population changes over time. The Y11’s have started on their controlled coursework. Their Hypothesis is that the bedload of a river changes along its course. To collect their data they went to Ashes Hollow in the heart of Shropshire and completed a River study. The Girls made it a colourful occasion by all wearing designer wellies!
September 2011 - History
September is always a big months for History geeks…72 years ago this month saw Britain declare war on Germany after Hitler had invaded Poland. A year later, in September 1940, the British air force won the Battle of Britain and Churchill could announce to the world that ‘never was so much, owed by so many to so few’. Within more recent memory of course are the events of 9/11 which we remember with sadness this month too.
Across the History department we have kicked off the new academic year with the Titanic (Year 9), the effects of the Norman invasion on Britain (Year 8) and GCSE students are studying Nazi Germany. It’s great to see so many busy historians exploring the past and their successes can be measured in the smelly stickers, which have become so desired by so many yet given to so few! However this number is steadily increasing and I suspect the department is heading for a shortage in smelly stickers- watch this space.
July 2011
Welcome to the first Humanities Blog – all the latest Geography, History and R.E. news.
There have been lots of changes for Humanities this year with year 7 studying Humanities as part of Home base covering topics such as Heroes and Villains, Special Journeys and Fantastic Places. It has been an exciting year for the Geography team with a new GCSE course underway, bringing with it the challenges of controlled assessment where we examined urban changes in Walsall. The year 11’s have just sat their second module and we hope they will continue with their successes from last year.
We are also thrilled to be offering a new full course GCSE in RE looking at moral and life issues, alongside the ever popular GCSE History and Geography GCSE’s.
It’s also the time to say goodbye for a while to Mrs Dowen who will be off on maternity leave for most of next year. However this has provided an exciting opportunity for Miss Whifield from Canada to join us for one year to gain experience in teaching in an English Academy. We are also looking forward to welcoming Miss Smith who is permanently joining the Faculty in September as Head of History.
Just before the end of the Summer Term there will be a Specialisms Day where lucky Humanities students will have the opportunity to use their creativity skills and research and present events and landmarks all around the World – while even looking into the eighth continent!!
