The Social Science Department explores the complex structures, behaviours, and relationships that shape human society. Social sciences examine how individuals interact, how institutions function, and how cultural, political, and economic forces influence daily life. Studying social sciences equips students with a versatile set of analytical and interpersonal tools, fostering critical thinking, cross-cultural awareness, and advanced quantitative and qualitative research skills. By learning to evaluate complex social issues, assess data objectively, and articulate well reasoned arguments students are able to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them, preparing them for impactful careers in public policy, law, business, education, advocacy, and global development.

Meet the Team:

Miss Ahsan – Curriculum Leader for Social Sciences

Mrs Firth – Teacher of Social Sciences

Miss C Amankwah – Teacher of Social Sciences

Sociology

KS4

GCSE Sociology (Eduqas)

In GCSE Sociology following the Eduqas specification, students explore how human behavior, social structures, and institutions shape society. The curriculum is split into core areas, in Year 10 starting with foundational Key Concepts and Processes of Cultural Transmission, which looks at how individuals are socialised into norms, values, and identity through agents like the media and peer groups. Students analyse Families, investigating changing family structures, roles, and diversity. Alongside this, Education, where they evaluate school processes, labeling, and factors impacting educational attainment across gender, class, and ethnicity. In Year 11, the course also dives into Social Differentiation and Stratification, exploring how power, inequality, and poverty dictate life chances, as well as Crime and Deviance, which scrutinises social control, criminal patterns, and the social construction of crime. Across all topics, students apply major sociological theories, such as Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, and Interactionism and evaluate sociological research methods, gaining hands on insight into quantitative and qualitative data, sampling, and research ethics to conduct their own applied sociological enquiries. 

Eduqas GCSE Sociology Specification

Curriculum Map:

	Autumn Term		Spring Term		Summer Term
	1:1	1:2	2:1	2:2	3:1	3:2
Year 10	Key Processes and Cultural Transmission, Introduction to family	Family	Education	Education	Research Methods	Social Stratification & Revision
Assessment	Knowledge recall assessment	Component 1 – short and extended questions	Component 1 – short and extended questions	Component 1 – short and extended questions	Component 1 – short and extended questions	Component 2 – short and extended questions – FULL COMPONENT 1 PPE
Year 11	Social Stratification	Crime and Deviance	Crime and Deviance	Research Methods	Revision	Examination Period
Assessment	Component 2 – short and extended questions	FULL COMPONENT 1 an Social Stratication PPE	Component 2 – short and extended questions	Component 2 – short and extended questions	Component 1 and 2 FULL PAPER

KS5

A Level Sociology (AQA)

In A-Level Sociology following the AQA specification, students build a deep critical understanding of social structures, power dynamics, and social change across two years of study. In Year 12 the curriculum focuses on Families and Households, evaluating changing family structures, gender roles, domestic labor, and demographic shifts. Students also investigate Education, where students analyse the role and purpose of schooling, differential educational achievement linked to social class, gender, and ethnicity, and the impact of educational policies. This is paired with Methods in Context, requiring students to apply practical research tools directly to educational settings. In Year 13 students will be introduced to Beliefs in Society, examining religion, secularisation, and fundamentalism. The specification culminates in the study of Crime and Deviance, exploring social control, surveillance, victimology, state crime, and the globalised media’s influence on criminality. Underpinning every paper is a rigorous grounding in Theory and Methods, where students evaluate structural vs. action theories including Marxism, Functionalism, Feminism, Interactionism, and Postmodernism, debate whether sociology can be considered a science, and weigh the practical, ethical, and theoretical issues surrounding qualitative and quantitative research design. Beyond academic insight, the discipline equips students with highly transferable skills such as critical thinking, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, cross-cultural competence, and ethical research methods that translate into diverse professional fields. Ultimately, studying sociology opens pathways to impactful careers in public policy, social work, law and criminal justice, human resources, market research, journalism, government administration, and international development, empowering students to drive meaningful social change and inform evidence based decision-making across public, private, and non-profit sectors.

 

AQA A Level Sociology Specification

Curriculum Map:

	Autumn Term		Spring Term		Summer Term
	1:1	1:2	2:1	2:2	3:1	3:2
Year 12	Family	Family	Education	Education	Methods in context	Revision
Assessment	Paper 2 – 10 and 20 mark question	Paper 2 – 10 and 20 mark question	Paper 1 – 10 and 30 mark question	Paper 1 – 10 and 30 mark question	Paper 1 – 20 Mark	Full Paper 1 and Family section Paper 2, PPE
Year 13	Crime and Deviance	Crime and Deviance	Beliefs	Beliefs	Revision	Examination Period
Assessment	Paper 3, 30 Mark	Paper 3, Full crime section	Paper 2 – 10 and 20 mark question	Paper 2 – 10 and 20 mark question	Full Paper 3