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Sixth Form Open Evening
Welcome to our Virtual Sixth Form Open Evening.
Course-Outlines-Booklet-September-2021
Please click here for our Sixth Form Application Form
WHSG School Tour
Subject Talks
Below you will find a series of talks from teachers with information about their subject, along with some useful documents.
ART
BIOLOGY
CHEMISTRY
CHEMISTRY-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL
CHEMISTRY-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-UNIVERSITY
COMPUTER SCIENCE
D&T: GRAPHICS
A Level Syllabus – Graphic Products/Product Design
Design and Technology: Product Design (2 year linear course) - Edexcel (9DT0)
‘Explore, Excite, Excel’
‘Studying Product Design: Graphics at this level gives you opportunities to be creative and innovative and offers an excellent progression from GCSE Design and Technology courses. The integration of work related activities and links to the commercial and industrial world are also valuable at this level.’
Course requirements: Grade B GCSE in Graphic Products/ Product Design/ Resistant Materials/ Engineering full course or grade A in either short course.
You will need to take responsibility for planning and managing your own work as there is a strong coursework component in this subject requiring independent learning and the ability to communicate with others to enhance research techniques. The skills that you will develop in planning and management are essential in Higher Education and are highly valued by employers.
Year 1 Key Learning:
Predominantly covering theory content in preparation for the written examination and elements of the non-examined assessment (coursework portfolio). The specification seeks to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of, and skills and application in, designing products, identification of and selection of materials and processes. They will also develop their research, analysis skills as well as focussing on wider issues of design and technology, such as social, moral, ethical and environmental impacts.
Year 2 Key Learning:
Will mainly consist of completing Component 2 – the portfolio/ coursework in which students are required to demonstrate creativity and flair when investigating, designing and making products. At this level students are given the opportunity to apply the skills they have acquired and developed throughout this course of study and are required to produce a substantial design, make and evaluate project which consists of a portfolio and a prototype.
The A Level specification consists of the following:
Component 1: Principles of Design and Technology
Written examination: 2 hours 30 minutes; 50% of the qualification; 120 marks
Component 2: Independent Design and Make Project
Non-examined assessment; 50% of the qualification; 120 marks
Progression
Students can progress from this qualification to:
- Tertiary education and/or work-based study including product design, engineering and Architecture
- Further training in the design, creative, engineering and/or manufacturing industries
- Employment in a relevant sector.
Into the Future: An A Level in Product Design: Graphic Products can lead to many opportunities in Higher Education and careers in industry such as: Graphic Design, Computer Graphics, Art and Design and many other areas requiring creativity, CAD/CAM and communicative skills.
DRAMA
A Level Syllabus
Edexcel, Drama and Theatre, 9DR0
Component 1: Devising
40% of the qualification
80 marks
Content overview
- ÂDevise an original performance piece.
- Use the key extract from the performance text and the given theatre practitioner as stimuli.
Assessment overview
- A 3000 word written portfolio (60 marks)
- A devised performance (20 marks)
Component 2: Text in Performance
20% of the qualification
60 marks
Content overview
- A group performance of one key extract from a set performance text.
- A monologue performance from one key extract from a different performance text.
Assessment overview
- Externally assessed by a visiting examiner.
- Group performance: worth 36 marks.
- Monologue performance: worth 24 marks.
Component 3: Theatre Makers in Practice
Written examination: 2 hours 30 minutes
40% of the qualification
80 marks
Content overview
- Live theatre evaluation
- Practical exploration and study of Equus by Peter Shaffer - focusing on how this can be realised for performance.
- Practical exploration and interpretation of Woyzeck by Georg Büchner , in light of the theatre practitioner Brecht - focusing on how this text could be reimagined for a contemporary audience.
Assessment overview
Section A: Live Theatre Evaluation
- 20 marks
- Students answer one extended response question from a choice of two requiring them to analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance they have seen in light of a given statement.
- Students are allowed to bring in theatre evaluation notes of up to a maximum of 500 words.
Section B: Page to Stage: Realising a Performance Text
- 36 marks
- Students answer two extended response questions based on an unseen extract from Equus.
- Students will demonstrate how they, as theatre makers, intend to realise the extract in performance.
- Students answer from the perspective of a performer and a designer.
- Performance texts for this section are not allowed in the examination as the extracts will be provided.
Section C: Interpreting a Performance Text
- 24 marks.
- Students will answer one extended response question from a choice of two based on an unseen named section from Woyzeck.
- Students will demonstrate how their re-imagined production concept will communicate ideas to a contemporary audience.
- Students will also need to outline how the work of their Brecht has influenced their overall production concept and demonstrate an awareness of the performance text in its original performance conditions.
- Students must take in clean copies of their performance texts for this section, but no other printed materials.
Information on Assessment
Assessment in Drama is based firmly on the assessment requirements of the GCSE and A Level exam boards. Thus, Drama is assessed through practical and written assessment in all year groups. For written assessment students learn terminology and are given the opportunity to analyse and evaluate their own work and the work of others. For practical assessments, students perform extracts from plays and perform work that they have devised themselves. For more detail on assessment, please see GCSE Drama and A Level Drama on the school website.
KS4 and KS5
Students will be given written tasks and exam paper questions throughout the course to develop their understanding of the set texts and exam techniques. Students will also be expected to complete independent research in order to develop their understanding of the texts studied and to give them material on which to base their devised performances. Time in lesson will be dedicated to completing written coursework however, a conscientious student will wish to spend time outside of lessons ensuring that this is to a standard they are proud of and homework time will be dedicated to this.
There will be periods of the year when lesson time is dedicated to preparing for students' practical Drama exams. I have found in the past that students request extra time after school to feel fully confident before their exams and also find the extra 1:1 support they can have after school useful to achieve the quality of work needed for top band work. Thus, homework in this period will involve creating, blocking, developing and rehearsing practical work. This homework cannot be done independently as Drama rehearsals need every member of the group. Thus, the department have organised after school rehearsals slots as a way to facilitate a time for all students to meet up in a space together.
ENGLISH LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
AQA A Level English Language and Literature
Component 1 - Telling Stories
Section A - Remembered Places - the representation of place in an anthology of non-fiction texts about Paris
Section B - Imagined Worlds - point of view and fantasy genre in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'
Section C - Poetic Voices - the forms and functions of poetic voice in Carol Ann Duffy's 'Mean Time'
Component 2 - Exploring Conflict
Section Ai - Writing about Society in Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner'
Section Aii - Writing about Society - a commentary on a recast based on Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner'
Section B - Dramatic Encounters - conflict in Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons'
Component 3 - non-exam assessment - Making Connections
Investigation on a chosen theme and texts
ENGLISH-COMBI-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL
ENGLISH-LIT-AND-ENGLISH-COMBI-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL-CORE-TEXTS
ENGLISH LITERATURE
OCR A Level English Literature
Component 1 - Drama and Poetry pre-1900
Section 1 - Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Section 2 - A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and Christina Rossetti's poetry comparison
Component 2 - Comparative and Contextual Study
Section 1 - unseen dystopian extract analysis
Section 2 - comparative analysis of dystopian novels, including one of either George Orwell's '1984' and Margaret Atwood's 'A Handmaid's Tale'
Component 3 - non-exam assessment
close reading and comparative essay
NEA1 - close reading of extracts from Tennessee Williams' 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
NEA2 - comparative analysis of Jean Rhys' 'Wide Sargasso Sea' and Carol Ann Duffy's 'Feminine Gospels'
ENGLISH-LITERATURE-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL
English-Lit-Next-Steps-for-A-Level-pt-2.pdf
ENGLISH-LIT-AND-ENGLISH-COMBI-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL-CORE-TEXTS-1.docx
GEOGRAPHY
AQA A level Geography
Paper 1 – 40% of A level
- Water and the carbon cycle
- Coasts
- Hazards
Paper 2 – 40% of A level
- Global governance
- Changing places
- Population and the Environment
NEA (Non- examined assessment) – 20% of A level
- 3000-4000 word field work investigation, collecting primary data to analyse.
KS5 Assessments – practice questions completed all the way through the course with end an end of topic test at the end of each topic covered.
GEOGRAPHY-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL.docx
GEOGRAPHY-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL-AND-UNIVERSITY-NETFLIX-DOCUMENTARIES.docx
HISTORY
A Level Syllabus
Edexcel Pearson
- Paper 1 – Russia 1917-91 (30% of final grade)
- Paper 2 – Mao’s China, 1949-76 (20% of final grade)
- Paper 3 – Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399-1509 (30% of final grade)
- Paper 4 – Coursework (20% of final grade)
Students are assessed throughout the year using exemplar A-Level questions.
LAW
MATHS AND FURTHER MATHS
In the Sixth Form, Mathematics is one of the most popular A Level subjects where the Edexcel specification is followed. The time allocation is 4.5 hours each week, with two members of staff teaching each group. The is reduced to 8 hours a week in Year 13 with again two members of staff
The A Level courses for Mathematics and Further Mathematics consist of three elements - Pure Mathematics (compulsory element), Statistics and Mechanics. Decision Mathematics may also be studied at Further Mathematics.
Students in the Year 12 accelerated set will complete the A Level by the end of that year. They will then have the opportunity in Year 13 of taking two or four more modules, in order to obtain an AS or A Level in Further Mathematics.
Year 12 |
Autumn Half Term 1 (7 weeks) |
Autumn Half Term 2 (7 weeks) |
Spring Half Term 1 (5 weeks) |
Spring Half Term 2 (6 weeks) |
Summer Half Term 1 (6 weeks) |
Summer Half Term 2 (7 weeks) |
Teacher 1 (5 hrs) |
Surds and Indices (4) Quadratics (5) Functions (1) Simultaneous Equations (2) Inequalities (set notation) (2) (14/16) |
Graph Sketching and Transforming (4) Differentiation (7) Integration (5) (16/18) |
Vectors (5) Exponentials (2) Logs (4) Proof (3) (14/14) |
Mechanical Modelling (2) Kinematics (constant acceleration) (4) Kinematics (variable acceleration) (4) (10/14) |
Forces (7) (7/14) |
Sequences (8) Proof (2) (10/16) |
Teacher 2 (4 hrs) |
Coordinate Geometry (8) Polynomials and Binomial (4…) (12/13) |
Polynomials and Binomial (…3) Trigonometry (9) (12/14) |
Sampling and Types of Data (3) Measures of Central Tendency and Spread (5) (8/11) |
Finding Outliers and Cleaning Data (1) Representing (single variable) Data (4) Bivariate Data and Regression Lines (2) Probability (4) (11/11) |
Statistical Distributions (3) Hypothesis Testing (3) (6/11) |
Trig with radians (5) Algebraic Fractions (2) Partial Fractions (3) (10/14) |
Year 13 |
Autumn Half Term 1 (7 weeks) |
Autumn Half Term 2 (7 weeks) |
Spring Half Term 1 (5 weeks) |
Spring Half Term 2 (6 weeks) |
Summer Half Term 1 (6 weeks) |
Summer Half Term 2 (7 weeks) |
Teacher 1
|
Differentiation (include convex/concave curves) (9) Integration (4...) (13/13) |
Integration (…6) Parametric Equations (5) (11/12) |
Vectors (3) Forces (3) Moments (4) (10/11) |
Projectiles (3) Vectors (4) (7/11) |
REVISION! (6/11) |
REVISION! EXAMS! (10/14) |
Teacher 2
|
Further Trigonometry (10) (10/13) |
Binomial (3) Graphs and Functions (7) Numerical Methods (4) (14/14) |
Regression (3) Conditional Probability (5) (8/11) |
Normal Distribution (7) (7/11) |
REVISION! (11) |
REVISION! EXAMS! (14) |
a-level-l3-further-mathematics-specification.pdf
a-level-l3-mathematics-specification.pdf
MATHS-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL-BRIDGING-THE-GAP.pdf
MFL
FRENCH-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL.docx
FRENCH-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-UNIVERSITY.docx
MUSIC AND MUSIC TECH
Please visit the Music page for more information.
MUSIC-AND-MUSIC-TECH-NEXT-STEPS-FOR-A-LEVEL-AND-UNIVERSITY.docx
PHYSICS
POLITICS
PSYCHOLOGY
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
A Level Syllabus:
AQA A Level (7062)
Religion, philosophy and ethics
Study of one religion in detail and dialogues between religion, philosophy and ethics
2 three hour examinations, all essay based, no coursework
Information on Assessment:
KS5 students are assessed with regular (weekly or fortnightly) essays - timed in class, and as HW. All students are assessed summatively in yearly examinations, PPEs and Internal examinations (Year 12).
RE-AGREED-SYLLABUS-2015-exploRE.pdf