Social Subjects

In S1 and S2 students will follow a Combined Social Subjects course which will give them the opportunity to explore a variety of themes and topics. From S3, students will choose their pathway from courses offered in:

S1

In S1 students have Social Subjects 2 periods per week and will study the following:

  • Enquiry skills
  • Skara Brae
  • The Egyptians
  • The Kingdom of
  • Our local area (fieldwork)
  • Atlas and map skills
  • Our weather
  • The Syrian Conflict
  • Immigration
  • Rights of the Child
S1 Homework

To ensure our learners enjoy personalisation and choice in their homework tasks, each term we issue them with a Mission Homework challenge.

The mission is to complete a range of different homework tasks. Mission Homework example
This helps our learners develop their time management skills and take ownership of their learning.

Each task has a points value and students must complete enough tasks to achieve 50 points by the hand in day. The points value shows roughly how long you should spend on a task (5 points = 5 minutes of work), the focus is on creativity, effort and time.

You can download a copy of this year’s homework challenges here:

 

S2 

In S2 students have Social Subjects 3 periods per week and will study the following units:

  • Hot deserts and desertification– an understanding of how living things have adapted to this extreme climatic region.
  • Edinburgh’s evolution– how Edinburgh’s landscape has been shaped by ice, the life of Mary Queen of Scots, sectarianism, tourism, map work and the trams debate. This unit will give students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the city they live.
  • Fighting for Freedom, Fighting for rights– this unit explores the rights of the child in the past and today. Students will study the Kinder -transport and the holocaust, child soldiers and child labourers around the world, child poverty and the role of charities.
  • Explosive Earth– is all about the structure of the earth and how volcanoes and earthquakes are a result of tectonic movement. Students will explore famous case studies such as the Boxing Day tsunami, the eruption of Mount Etna, the Haitian earthquake and the volcanic eruption in Iceland that caused havoc globally!
  • Conspiracy Theories and terrorism the assassination of JFK will be studied as well as the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks in New York. Students will explore terrorism and the conspiracy theories surrounding these life changing events. The disappearance of the Malaysian flight is also discussed.
  • Rapid Response– students learn about the immediate and long term rescue operations in the aftermath of a natural disaster striking an area. This unit gives the students an opportunity to take part in a role play activity which involves collaboration with the Institute of Civil Engineers.
S2 Homework

Child Poverty presentation task

Trips and Fieldwork
There will be opportunities in Social Subjects to take part in local fieldwork and trips to Dynamic Earth, Holyrood Palace, the Castle and the Scottish Parliament.