Please watch the video below to view some of the more frequently asked questions about these subjects, then scroll down to the forum below to submit any of your own questions.
Thank you for watching. If your question was not covered in the video, then please use the "add comment" button below to ask one of our teachers for help. Staff will be live on the forum from 9am to 12pm on Saturday 17th October and will then be checking for questions throughout the weekend (although response times will not be as quick). The forum will close at 4pm on Monday 19th October, after which you can email any questions to admissions@kesbath.com
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Good morning, I am Mark Buswell, Head of Religious Studies and Philosophy.
I will be here from 8am this morning to answer questions about the department and the courses we run.
Currently, the department offers:
- Key Stage 3 World Religions, Philosophy of Religion, and Ethics
- AQA GCSE RS (Christianity, Islam, and Ethics). This course is optional.
- Statutory RS in Years 10/11 (Themes connected to Religion in Society)
- EdExcel A Level Religious Studies (Philosophy of Religion, Moral Philosophy, and New Testament Studies)
- AQA A Level Philosophy (Epistemology, Moral Philosophy, Metaphysics of God, and Philosophy of Mind)
I look forward to answering any questions you have below.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 06:18
Thanks for the introduction really helpful. How many hours of humanities do Year 7 get taught per week?
Posted by Guest198, 17/10/2020 at 09:33
Humanities are taught as separate subjects, they don't always have the same number of hours, but generally, I believe it is 3 hours every two weeks per subject.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 09:36
RS 1 hour per week in Years 7/8/9 and 1 hour every two weeks in 10/11. GCSE RS runs additionally to this as an optional full course.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 10:59
As Mr Lomon mentioned, Latin gets 3 hours a fortnight.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:11806, 17/10/2020 at 11:02
Good morning, I am Dr Knight, Head of Geography at KES. If you have any questions about the Geography courses that we deliver throughout KES then please do ask.
Posted by Dr J Knight, 17/10/2020 at 09:02
Hello! I'm Mike Bull and I'm the Head of Classics here at KES. I'm looking forward to receiving and answering your questions this morning. All students at KES study Latin in Years 7-8, with every third lesson set aside to study Classical Civilisation topics. We focus on the Romans in Year 7 and the Greeks in Year 8. By the end of Year 8 students can opt to drop Latin, carry on with just Latin on its own, or sign up for our fast-track Latin and Greek course, where they can study the two ancient languages for the price of one!
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:11806, 17/10/2020 at 09:03
Morning. I'm Steve Lomon, Head of History and Politics and I'm online until 12 to answer any queries you might have on History at KES, or History / Politics more generally if you feel so inclined. I look forward to hearing from you.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 09:04
Good morning, is there a particular geographic scope to the history & politics syllabus? I imagine UK & European history / politics feature significantly (?) but what about other parts of the world?
Posted by Guest209, 17/10/2020 at 10:37
Thanks for your question. In Politics we study US and UK politics, but these are at 6th form, so some way away for a new joiner. Our History curriculum begins in Britain and expands into Europe through studies on migration, religion, power and disease. During Y8 we look at the beginnings of the British Empire, its global impact, the experience of slavery and interpretations of Christopher Columbus / the colonisation of the West Indies and the causes of abolition. In Y9, we study the question of whether war is the mother of progress. Within that, there is a case study on how far independence movements were born out of WW1, focusing on Indian independence vs Irish independence struggles. We also look at the war's impact on race, gender and class relations in the decades that followed. A study on WW2 follows leading into a study on Civil Rights progress.
This is a quick overview, but I'd be happy to chat things through if you require more detail at a later date - do email me on s.lomon@kesbath.com if I can help further.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 10:47
Does religion play any role in your curriculum? Does your school have a religion affiliation? Thanks
Posted by Guest399, 17/10/2020 at 09:34
The school has historic links to the Church of England, and has a Chaplaincy. This is totally separate from the Religious Studies Department, however. We are an academic department that studies the historical and social impact of religions. A wide spectrum of religions and belief systems will be studied with scrutiny and neutrality. As a school, we welcome pupils of all faiths and backgrounds. We have a thriving Christian Union, but there is no overt affiliation to any one faith in the RS curriculum.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 09:38
Good morning everyone - a rather general question: what is the emphasis across humanities departments on encouraging children to think/question/develop arguments etc in addition to (or rather than) simply learning facts/core syllabus and can you give some examples?
Posted by Guest448, 17/10/2020 at 09:35
It sounds like you've had a bruising experience of fact tests and rote learning. The key skills we emphasise are those of debating, structured argument and interpretation. Obviously an argument is weak without evidence and having some information at your fingertips to substantiate your views is key, but rote learned views are discouraged.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 09:40
As an example, we begin Y7 looking at the Norman Conquest and questioning the accuracy of the Bayeux Tapestry. Students wrestle with conflicting accounts and reach judgements as to who the rightful King should have been. Another debate will question the significance of the Norman Conquest - did life really change that much? Was everyone impacted equally? Do we still see any of the impacts today? This is just a snapshot, but I hope it illustrates that we are not focused on telling students what happened and hoping that counts as an education!
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 09:47
At every level with the RS and Philosophy curriculum, we encourage reflection, evaluation, and reasoned judgement on the topic being studied. All lessons contain an element of discussion and reflection. The department also has a debating society, Socrates Club that encourages pupils to develop, construct, and articulate arguments.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 09:41
Thank you for this question. In Geography we will always encourage the pupils to think and question. Specific activities that we will do are role plays, consideration of issues (such as the traffic and pollution issue in Bath, deforestation, development issues, to name a few), discussion lessons. As the pupils progress through the school they will consider issues such as short term or long term impacts are more important in the aftermath of a hurricane or earthquake, for example. Of course, the pupils need to have a firm foundation on which to build these arguments and to be able to debate but developing their own opinions and being able to substantiate these are important.
Posted by Dr J Knight, 17/10/2020 at 09:43
I'd echo what Mr Lomon has said. Whilst there obviously has to be some rote-learning as part of our Latin syllabus in order to progress with the language (grammar tables and vocabulary lists), the civilisation aspect of the course more than allows the students the freedom to question the ancient cultures and their way of living. Through topics such as the household, education, daily life of a male/female, slavery and sport, we find that the students are able to compare and contrast the ancient and modern worlds and make perceptive judgements about the various positives and negatives.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:11806, 17/10/2020 at 09:46
I don't believe in God but I go to a C of E School. I prefer science to Religion. My last form teacher didn't like me disagreeing. Can I disagree with teachers in your department, or can we discuss alternative views sometimes?
Posted by Guest253, 17/10/2020 at 10:41
We would love you to disagree and to tell us why. We will discuss alternative views every lesson, they are always welcome ! We are a school for Adventurous Minds !
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 10:43
I should think Mr Buswell's response applies universally across the school, unless you are debating us on our chewing gum rule - that is pretty firm, but most other issues should and will be discussed.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 10:56
It feels like every department have their own trips.. how many trips does year7 will go normally in total?
Posted by GuestK539, 17/10/2020 at 10:59
Normally in Year 7, RS will run a morning only trip to the Park Row Synagogue in Bristol. This year, we will probably do this virtually and have one of the community members join us for a virtual Q&A session.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 11:02
As for total trips in Year 7, Mrs Munn, Head of the Lower Sector, would be able to give you an overview. RS is proud to be part of a wide range of out of classroom experiences organised for Year 7.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 11:05
I think without Covid restrictions in place, you can be sure that the Humanities subjects would run trips for Year 7. The Classics dept takes all of Year 7 down to the Roman Baths at the start of the summer term, so fingers crossed we'll be allowed to run this trip again soon!
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:11806, 17/10/2020 at 11:05
For year 7 Geography we do not take the students out. There are other trips for the year 7 pupils in a normal year, both academic and pastoral (such as a team building day at the start of year 7). Instead, we would normally take the year 8 to the south coast to enhance their coastal unit of work. This is a one day trip. Mr Tidball (Head of Co-Curricular) or Mrs Munn (Head of Lower School) would be able to give you the complete overview of year 7 trips.
Posted by Dr J Knight, 17/10/2020 at 11:07
Thank you for your interesting and useful questions this morning. It has been especially nice to hear from some of the pupils themselves. Please leave any further questions below and they will be answered early next week.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 11:58
How will the school be taking active steps to address from Y7 onwards, current affairs around race and slavery?
Posted by Guest253, 17/10/2020 at 11:59
Racism and discrimination are integral topics throughout all of the RS curriculum. Particularly, in non-examined RS, racism is studied through an assessment of important historical characters such as Gandhi, Steven Biko, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. I can give you a more developed answer via email if you wish. Additionally, one of my other areas of contribution to the school is through our cinema club; this week we are watching Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Posted by Mr M Buswell, 17/10/2020 at 12:05
That's a very interesting question. The current Year 7 and Year 8 scheme of work for Latin/Classical Civilisation already includes topics on Roman and Greek slavery. We look at a number of areas of the lives of a slave: how someone became a slave in the first place, what rights they had (if any), the conditions that they lived under, what variety of jobs/tasks/roles they might be required to do and how they might achieve the process of freedom. We then put that into the context of modern-day slavery and look for comparisons and contrasts.
With regards to race (and indeed gender) a number of new Latin textbooks and articles have recently been released, which aim to give a more holistic view of the Roman Empire. They are hot off the press and we're going to look into these new textbooks in the upcoming months to see how they might fit into our current schemes of work. If you want to get your hands on copies of them, then have a look for Suburani and De Romanis online.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:11806, 17/10/2020 at 12:11
In Geography race and ethnicity will be considered in many different units. For example, global inequalities are considered through a unit about the development gap, migration is a unit of work that looks at forced migration, race is considered in one of our case studies about hurricanes, socio-economic factors and deprivation are considered more thoroughly as requirements of A level geography and in some parts of the GCSE course too. Colonial links also are part of understanding our wider economic geography at GCSE. So, whilst there is not a unit of work about race and slavery, race and ethnicity (and gender) are considered at different points throughout our Geography courses. I hope this helps.
Posted by Dr J Knight, 17/10/2020 at 12:46
In an answer above I referred to areas of our curriculum that hopefully help to answer your question. In the video I mentioned how we try to blend history and politics, and race certainly comes into this. An example would be an enquiry we do on why the Reformation and why Martin Luther's ideas went 'viral'. We study what makes ideas potent and turns them into movements. Black Lives Matter became a case study we looked at, along with Extinction Rebellion. My earlier post referred to our studies on the slave experience, British attitudes to slavery over time, the impact of empire and a study on war and progress that includes large sections on race as well as gender. We study the history of racism in Britain and assess how far views changed post 1918 and post 1945 both here and in the US. I think it's important for students to understand how racist ideas have spread, the absurdity of their origins and the impact they have had around the world.
That said, we don't teach students to feel guilty or proud of British history, but to understand it and to contextualise the world they live in. Learning about racist ideas and racism is an important part of this, but it is a part of a very large whole. What to include and what to cut take up a large part of our departmental planning - we believe we have a good balance of topics.
Posted by DB:Cloud:DB:SIMSemp:34348, 17/10/2020 at 16:10