The Maelor School was one of the first schools in the country to provide most students with the opportunity to study for their GCSE in Humanities and sit the examination a year early, at the end of year 10. Students who successfully complete the Humanities course may then progress to study either GCSE Geography or History in year 11. We first introduced this in 2001 and it has proved so successful in enabling students to maximise their achievement at GCSE level that it has since been copied by a number of other schools nationwide.
Year 10: During the second half of year 9 most students started their GCSE Humanities course by studying one of the optional modules during their Geography and History lessons. By the end of year 9, students will have completed this first module and their first piece of coursework. In year 10 all students continue to study the GCSE Humanities course and complete a further piece of coursework. Classes are organised in sets based on ability and past performance and each class is allocated 3 hours of lessons per week. Decisions about GCSE entries are taken following the year 10 school examinations (in the Spring term) although we would usually expect all students in the top three sets (out of five) to be entered for the final GCSE examination in May or June. Students who have not been entered for the final examinationin year 10, continue to study GCSE Humanities as a two-year course for examination in year 11.
Year 11: Following the GCSE Humanities examination in year 10, some students will be able to choose to study either GCSE Geography or History and will begin some of the coursework elements during the last few weeks in year 10. These courses continue throughout year 11 with students being entered for the final examination, as in other subjects, at the end of the year. In this way many students have the opportunity to achieve grades in two GCSEs rather than the more usual one. Students who narrowly failed to achieve a higher grade in Humanities in year 10 may be given the opportunity to re-sit the examination while those who were not entered will continue to follow the Humanities course through year 11 as if it was a normal two-year course. The time allocation for year 11 is the same as in year 10 and though the students are placed in sets, the make-up and criteria for these will depend on the numbers opting for each subject and the grade achieved at GCSE Humanities.
For more details on the requirements of the three GCSE courses please visit the pages of the relevant subjects by using the subject navigator (left).
To view the success of students in achieving two GCSE grades in Humanities please visit the exam results page of this website using the link button below.
