As SJHS moves towards becoming an IB World School and delivering the IB Diploma Programme (commencing September 2008), the PSHE programme has been redesigned to reflect this development.
“The Best of both worlds”
- The PSHE programme provides an opportunity to establish a logical continuum in the curriculum, marrying the best of the pastoral British education system with the best of the critical thinking inherent to the Theory of Knowledge programme in the IB Diploma, characterised by ‘student-centred learning’ and Internationalism.
- Key Stage 3 PSHE is delivered with consideration of the three central components of the IB Diploma Programme: Creativity, Action, Service, (CAS) Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and the Extended Essay (EE).
- In recognition of the need to prepare students for the rigorous requirements of the IB Diploma, Key Stage 4 follows a “Diploma Foundation Programme”. There is specific emphasis on TOK, further development of a sense of local, regional and global awareness through CAS, and development of research, planning and time management skills consistent with the demands of the IB Diploma and the Extended Essay.
Creativity, Action, Service, (CAS)
Recognises that learning that goes on outside the classroom is just as important as learning that goes on inside.- Creativity: Acting, Singing, Playing in a band, Painting, Dancing, Writing
- Action: Physical Activity, e.g. Sports, Climbing, Dance
- Service: To the local, regional & global community, fostering life-long involvement.
- Reflection: An essential part of CAS, where students ask themselves, “What can I learn from this experience?” and “Where can I go from here?”
Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
A philosophy of learning course which examines knowledge claims and celebrates cultural diversity. Characterised by:- Critical Thinking Skills; encouraging questioning. “How do we know this to be true?”
- Celebration of difference cultures
- Examination of the IBO Mission statement, specifically, “Other people with their differences can also be right”.
- Sources of knowledge; “Where does knowledge come from?”
- Languages as different ways of understanding the world.
Extended Essay
A 4000 word piece of research based work on a subject of a student’s special interest, encouraging- Research skills
- Time Management
- Academic writing skills
- English language proficiency
PSHE textbooks & the Learning Resource Centre (LRC)
- PSHE textbooks are an extremely well produced and useful resource that are utilised most extensively in Key Stage 3.
- The new Library Resource Centre has brought another dimension to students’ opportunities to engage in independent, research based projects.
Guest Presenters
- A regular feature of the PSHE/Diploma Foundation Programmes is presentations delivered by acknowledged experts from the local, regional and global community.
Examples of subject areas examined
“Little Hitlers grow up into Big Hitlers”
Cultural Identity
“Who am I? Where do I come from?”
Community Service
“Why and how do differences exist?”
Individual Responsibility
“Can one person make a difference?”
Spiritual
“Where is God?” (E.g. when natural disasters strike?)
Crime
“Human Trafficking, is it a new thing?”
The Three R’s: Respect for Self, Respect for Others, Responsibility for Actions
“Litter, Smoking”
Human Rights
“What are my rights?” (Do others have the same?)
The United Nations
“What does the U.N. do? Is it any good at it?”
Cultural Identity
“Does the way a national team plays football reflect the characteristics of the people of that country?”
The Law
How true is the phrase, “One rule for one, one for another”?
HIV/Aids and Drug companies
“Does Aids mean a death sentence?”
Religion
“Where did the Ten Commandments come from?”
Politics
“Is Democracy the ‘least worst’ form of government?”
Time Management
“If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail”
Multiculturalism of Ghettoism?
“Has Multiculturalism in Europe failed?”
Racism
“Where does racism come from?”
Health
“You are what you eat”
Assessment
In January 2008, a “SJHS CAS Diary” is launched. This could be described as a “scrapbook of achievement”; to include thoughts, reflections and collections (of photographs and drawings) of what has been done inside and outside school. The CAS diary for KS3 is a modified version of an IB Diploma CAS diary (A5 size). KS4 receive an A4 CAS diary, such as they will receive on entering the IB Diploma Programme.CAS diaries are basically a record of:
- What a student did
- What a student learned
- What a student is going to do next
- Presentation of material in the diary
- Level of initiative
- Level of engagement
- Teamwork
- Demonstration of understanding of what “Act Local, Think Global” means
- Final presentation of material
- A piece of writing (once a term) which is ‘research based’ i.e. points of view are justified and references cited.