In the Lower Sixth we start with a focus on the government and politics of the UK.  

Studying UK government, you will learn about the how our political system is organised. Beginning with  its underpinning in our constitution, we examine how our parliament and Supreme Court operate, and consider the nature and extent of the powers allocated to the prime minster. 

In UK politics we look at the day to day running of the country, from the role of political parties and what they stand for, to how our electoral system works and the arguments for its reform. We study the role of pressure groups  and take a broad look at the nature of democracy within our political system.

Towards the end of the year we will begin to look at the US system of government and politics and consider the same ideas outlined above from the American perspective.

In the Upper Sixth we continue our study of the government and politics of the US, with a key difference being that we are now making direct comparisons with the UK system. 

Big questions such as which has more power, the UK prime minister or the US president, how effectively are the rights of citizens protected in each country, and how politicised have the Supreme Courts of each nation become dominate our study.

The final element of the A Level Politics course involves consideration of political ideologies. We study four ideologies in all - liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and anarchism. Here we strip away the day to day nuts and bolts of running the country and instead focus on the ideas that underpin political perspectives from all sides of the spectrum. We examine ideas around basic human nature and what the role of the state should be, how society should develop and how economies are best run.