Weeks 16-17

ACTIVITIES

Term 2 - January

Weeks 16 & 17 : One to Ones & Get Political!

One to Ones continued

It is really important that in the first three weeks of Term 2 that all personal tutors make time within classes for a one to one catch up with all learners. This one to one should cover:

Grades and information from the December reports
Progress being made against ALPs targets
Targets to help learning move forward and to keep you motivated to achieve and get the best possible results.

Whilst undertaking one to ones all learners can follow the work below

It's a new year and most of you will either be 18 or just about approaching this age. For the first time you may be able to vote in either a general or local election. Voting is an important part of our democracy. Even choosing not to vote may be a political act. So it's worth taking time to consider 'politics' in a little more depth, via this activity.

POLITICAL PARTIES exist to compete for votes and win elections. They produce policy manifestos which set out want they want to do if they win power. What would you do if you got to run the UK government?

TASK:

1. Work with a small group of students to produce your manifesto of policies. Use the ideas below to help you

Foreign Policy – would you increase / decrease the use of UK armed forces around the world?

Defence Policy – would you develop / reduce nuclear weapons?

Drugs Policy – would you be more / less tolerant?

Crime and punishment – would you want tougher / softer punishments?

Schools – would you change the way they are organised / funded?

Hospitals – would you change the way they are organised / funded?

Minimum ages – would you alter the minimum ages for gaining rights?

Environment – what policies would you have to clean up the environment?

Other things you would want to change?

2. Give your new political party a name

3. The Election. Show your proposals on a poster to the other members of the class to try and win their votes. The group with a majority (50%) of votes wins power. If no group gets 50% the result would be a joining together (coalition) of parties.

FIND OUT MORE

Parties fight different elections at different levels because some decisions are made in London (UK Parliament and Government), some in Brussels (the European Union), some in Cardiff (National Assembly) and some in Wrexham (Wrexham Council). Find out what these bodies do and who represents you in them:

Find out where the political parties stand at www.politicalcompass.org

New Years resolutions for A Level Students: Ways to improve your grades

Read the tips below and discuss together how you study and revise best?

It’s January and that means it must be time for New Year's resolutions. January is a time to get refocussed and prepare for your first set of mock exams. With that in mind, here are some New Years resolutions you can make this month to help boost your grades.

Get into a routine

Begin the year by getting yourself into a good routine. Start with trying to get a regular good night’s sleep – aim for at least eight hours – and avoid letting yourself stay in bed in the mornings and don't go to bed too late.

Get organised

Get yourself organised, use a calendar, diary to plan in time to study each subject. Study means going over work you've done in class and adding to your notes with further research and learning. It means practising exam questions. Make sure your notes are all organised and complete.

Get Studying Together

Study groups are a fabulous way to learn. Research shows that when students teach each other and learn together, they do really well in exams. This is because working together helps you to make sense of complex ideas. Talking through topics helps things to stick in your mind and by discussing these ideas you start to ask more questions and research on line to find out even more. Also you can study for longer as you won't lose concentration. It will work as long as you all agree to stay on task and focussed on the studying for a set time. Have a go!

Get revising

Revision isn’t something that needs to start just before your exams. Getting into the habit of doing ongoing revision as you learn is the best way of making sure you understand the content and it fully sinks in. Test yourself on the topic and create future revision aids such as flashcards now while it’s all still fresh in your mind. Connect topics together using mind maps.

Keep up with assignments. Getting behind gives you less time, leads to stress and makes for rushed work.

Attend every class

Attending all of your classes will help you get into a good long-term routine and help your learning. While notes and slides may be available online, most of the learning this term will be spent applying your learning and practising questions, so it's really important that you attend every single lesson.