Psychology

Key Stage 5 Health and Social Care Curriculum Intent

Objectives:

The Psychology department at The Holmesdale School aims to help students develop a love of learning in understanding and explaining how the mind can influence human behaviour and the impact of this behaviour on wider society, as well as developing our students into well rounded active citizens. Through the study of a broad range of topics, such as mental illnesses, social influence, aggression and relationships, our students develop a tolerance, awareness and respect towards other individuals. Students are challenged in class to consider alternative ideologies and concepts, as well as how behaviour affects various and diverse cultures and upbringing experiences.

Structure and Sequencing:

Pupils who choose to study Psychology study the BTEC Level 3 course which offers a broad psychological curriculum. As a knowledge based curriculum, we believe that knowledge underpins and enables the application of skills; both are entwined. Content is delivered to students and then built upon through a variety of practice questions, with regular quality feedback being given to support student progress. The knowledge acquired then allows students to develop their analytical and critical thinking skills.

Opportunities for memory, recall and retention:

Our curriculum design includes revisiting and building on existing knowledge. We ensure the level of challenge is high enough for the most-able, with scaffolding and support available for students who need it. There are also opportunities to make references to other units in the study of particular areas to further help consolidate learning and allow students to apply what they have learnt.  

Cultural capital, British values, PSCHE and careers guidance:

At The Holmesdale School, Cultural Capital is embedded throughout the Psychology curriculum. Our students are introduced to a wide variety of viewpoints from some of the most influential Psychologists throughout history. We study the impact that their work has had on the world we live in and students are encouraged to make links between their studies and real life examples. They are expected to analyse the relative contributions of competing theories in order to discuss their impact on our understanding of human behaviour and society as a whole. Studying Psychology opens up many future pathways for our students to follow through the transferable skills they develop throughout this course such as statistical analysis, presentational skills, academic writing, understanding academic literature, being analytical as well as interpersonal skills.

Meeting the needs of all students:

Through the teaching of Psychology, students learn about the differing behaviours of individuals. This allows students to gain a better understanding of themselves and others. Due to studying the extended course, we have been able to choose units that best reflect our intake of students and what will meet their emerging needs the most. Similarly, by choosing the Btec model, we are able to support all of our students through a mixture of both coursework and exam practice.