Curriculum Intent  

We study Psychology in order to create inquisitive learners. Through studying a wide range of human behaviours, we aim to give students a broad understanding of why humans behave in certain ways and give them an appreciation that we all have individual differences that make us unique. We encourage students not to just take ‘facts’ at face value through teaching them how to think critically about theories and studies.   

As well as achieving a strong academic qualification, we aim for students to gain a better understanding of themselves and of other people. In particular, we believe it is important to teach students about mental health and ways to identify and support mental health issues.  We believe this understanding will enable learners to be more successful in both their personal lives and their future interactions with people in a work context. 

Finally, we are aiming through our curriculum to support our learners to be inclusive of all. Psychology as a discipline (and the specifications provided) are not particularly inclusive– for example research is ethnocentric and focusses predominantly on white, Western culture, and rarely considers gender as anything but binary (male and female). We believe it’s important to explore key topics such as ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality (despite them not being explicitly covered on the course) to ensure students feel safe in our classroom. This helps students to develop confidence and character when discussing and considering these topics and be the best versions of themselves when they leave the classroom and interact with others that are in these demographics.