How our Year 12 students are stepping up to achieve A Level success this term

In Sixth Form, our students are given opportunities to stretch and challenge themselves during lessons and in their independent study time, with the support of their teachers and access to hundreds of online and offline resources at their fingertips.

Our Year 12 Geographers have been demonstrating their critical analysis skills in writing essays on the topic of the influence of globalisation on the spread of western identity. They have stepped up to have a go at A2 level work and have not disappointed! Miss Hodgkinson was particularly impressed by how the students brought in synoptic links from other subjects that they are studying, such as Economics and Media studies.

The issues they explore in their essays include Disney-fication, the Arab Spring protests, McDonalds & fast food, the Hollywood film industry and the Anglo-Australian colonialisation of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea for copper mining.

Seb’s essay neatly introduced the definition of globalisation as “the accelerated expansion of technology and market capitalism – increasing the international interconnectedness & interdependence of the world due to improved infrastructure, transport links and an increased exchange of cultures, languages, and inter-governmental agreements.” Another Year 12 student suggested that globalisation impacts an individual or community’s identity by “enabling people to experience a wider range of material cultures and participate in the ‘global supermarket’ of options e.g. clothes, ways of speaking, values and lifestyles.”

Having looked at a wide range of examples through the last century, one Year 12 summarised that globalisation has had “both positive and negative effects on communities around the world, by providing an opportunity to stand up for human rights, however, [has] also contributed to the erosion of old traditions and beliefs rooted from capitalism…”

We’re hugely proud of our Sixth Form students and their constant aspiration to work hard and produce fantastic, A Level standard pieces of work- particularly their continued and unperturbed attitude to studying during this term of online learning.