In the right hand column,  you will find Links to Law, Politics, Citizenship, and other pages.  Click on the name for BaccBlog.co.uk and/or EPQBlog.co.uk   more »

Cramming for exams does not work for AS/A2 Laws subjects. You have a significant area to revise for the January examinations. Last minute cramming is a recipe for disaster. You need to work throughout December to prepare for the January exams.

A number of AS Law students will soon be loaned an iPod Touch so that they can use it to access the LawsBlog etc for their study purposes. Follow this link for details of the iPod Touch.   more »

Laws students (Law, Citizenship and/or Politics) who have an attendance of below 80% will face a special mock examination on Friday the 11th December in TRA-14 at 12 noon or 1pm. Start your revision now.   more »

Every time you see Father Christmas, a Xmas Tree, or a Christmas Card, remember that you need to do some more Laws revision. To have a Happy New Year - you need to revise over the Christmas vacation.   more »

 The following students must see me ASAP with their additional work and their folders: Andrew Steptoe, Georgina Curtis-Iddiols & Max Kirby

Follow this link for details of Laws students essays "Everyone has the right to respect for their family life." that have been submitted to the UK Supreme Court.

 Beginning 1st December, AS Law & Citizenship students will undertake a mock examination in class. The examination questions are posted below and students are advised to prepare in advance:

   more »

 Students are reminded to undertake essay plans for their homework questions (or examination questions) BEFORE the write-up. Planning your answer - how to answer the question and what elements are required is essential (the rehearsal before the 'gig' if you will). It also provides you with your essay structure as well as an exercise for getting potential ideas down on paper.

Students who choose not to do them are marked down accordingly by me if I am grading their work (generally by half-a-grade). I want to see evidence of planning. You have been warned.

In a timed examination, if the question is worth 18 marks  - spend 3-4 minutes planning an answer briefly on a separate piece of paper before writing up.

 Citizenship students, James Price, Ayesha Patel, Samantha Barlow, Alex Robinson, Chloe Stevens, Emma-Jane Hayes, and Alicia Wallis, are dressing up in Disney fancy dress to raise funds for Great Ormand Street Children's Hospital. The event takes place on Friday 11th December and they ask for your support and sponsorship. Please note that fancy dress costumes are not welcome in my class. As an alternative/complimentary approach, we can have a sponsored essay writing class (see attached sponsorship form).

The EPQ Deadline is Valentine's Day the 14th February 2010. Students MUST complete their Extended Project by that date, giving your EPQ Supervisor until noon on the 15th March 2009 September to assess/grade, and have moderated, your Extended Project and EPQ Log. If you (or your Supervisor) fail to submit your completed project to me by that noon deadline, you will fail the EPQ. There are NO extensions of time. The deadline for entries to AQA is the 21st March 2010.

The EPQ Log is extremely important when it comes to the assessment of your extended project. The more depth and analysis within your EPQ Log the better. In particular, you need to deal with the 'reflection page' by explaining the aims and objectives of your project and then evaluating how things worked out.

This is Vital. If you haven't started revising already then you are weeks behind! Luckily I have drawn up a revision checklist in order to help you prepare for the exam. Print it out- and get a cover for it. It is the most important peice of paper you will have this year. We will use it to record our revision and it will show us the questions that might come up in the exam.

Stop reading this and start printing it now! Why are you still reading? Print it.

I want every A2 Criminal Law student (no exceptions) to hand me a printed iMindmap that reflects all of the General Defences - with appropriate case law etc - for the first lesson of next week (23rd November 2009 .

You will be given time in class to undertake this work.

If you write directly on a desk, with a pen etc, it is Criminal Damage and a criminal offence. I will not tolerate any such abuse by Laws students.

AS Citizenship students, for important information regarding your Active Citizenship Profiles (an examination requirement) please read the following post...   more »

This month we are focusing upon answering the question. At the end of each sub-heading paragraph(s) you should relate back to the essay title/question. In the conclusion, you MUST relate back to the words in the title.

I have marked essays in which students gave 100 words and 103 words in a sentence. Plain English editors, like Whitesmoke, mark out such sentences as showing a poor writing style. The modern trend is to average around 14 words per sentence. Some authors give much less. Proof read your work please.

When your next piece of homework is fed back to you please ensure that you bring all of your precis ...   more »

http://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gceasa/gov_assess.php

If you follow this link it will take you to a bank of old exam papers. The syllabus has ...   more »

Having read the work of A2 politics students on the 1st amendment I have the following advice:

Overall, there was ...   more »

  I have received some questions about the CIT3 homework - please read the following post for some guidance...    more »

Laws students have the following Christmas vacation homework.   more »

    Congratulations to Mrs Anna Lindley, and her husband, on a baby daughter 7lb 13oz born last night. She has called her baby Jessica. Congratulatory comments are invited (click on 'Leave Comment' below to leave a message).   more »

People often claim that they have the right to dress as they like - i.e. they have a right to freedom of expression. However, isn't it the case that people face social pressures that influence their dress? For example,   more »

Should I charge for use of this LawsBlog? With over 200,000 visits a year, it has been suggested that I should charge a fee for use of this blog. Basically, the suggestion is to charge visitors an annual subscription of say £10 (that's cheaper than a law book). Currently, I simply invite visitors to donate to the Royal Institute for the Blind.

Give your comments on the suggestion that I should charge for using this blog. 

Strode's College Students in the UK Supreme Court.

Students from the Department of Laws really shined at the Opening Ceremony of the Supreme Court on Friday 16th October 2009. They demonstrated a clear ability to present a moot and argue points of law before nine Supreme Court judges. Questions flowed from the judges, but the students responded with confidence and charm.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, and others complimented them on their success. They spoke with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Archbishop of Canterbury and even John Roberts the Chief Justice from the US Supreme Court.  The number of senior Judges and dignitaries who stopped me to congratulate me on the success of the students is beyond counting. Well done to all of the students involved. You are stars. 

See the BBC website newstory.    more »

I asked Laws students to email me if they felt they had too much homework and wanted to defer the January examination until June. Only one student made the request, so I can confirm that Laws students will be facing examinations in January 2010.

If you want help/advice on answering essay homework, and preparing for examination questions, see: 'Criminal Law Q & A' by Norman Baird.

A good alternative textbook is: 'Criminal Law Questions and Answers' by Molan and Douglas.

Laws students have just one piece of homework every three weeks (work is also set for vacations - but then you are at home and have plenty of time). You will only be given extra homework if you miss a lesson (to make up for what you have missed) or if you fail to meet homework deadlines.   more »

EPQ Supervisors and Moderators were involved in extended project moderation today. We cannot reveal grades. What I can reveal is that a number of students had very good projects, but they missed out on an higher grade because they had an EPQ Log that lacked depth/analysis.   more »

 When you undertake Laws Homework you need to search out articles, information, materials, textbooks, that will help you answer the question. It should take a week of research to complete an essay. The idea is   more »

A number of second year A2 Law, A2 Politics, and A2 Citizenship, students invite AS Laws students to a mentoring meeting on Tuesday 20th October between 2pm and 2:15pm in TRA 15

If you want a mentor please attend.

It is my ambition to get Laws students to do an essay exam question every single day between now and their final examination.   more »

In the forthcoming day/week nearly ALL Laws students will face Mini-Mock Examinations (start planning your answer now): Follow the link ...

AS Law - A2 Criminal Law - AS UK Politics - A2 US Politics - A2 Citizenship - AS Citizenship - AS Citizenship Additional Work.  For more essays - visit the EssayBank.

Remember that you can use a plan in the Mini-Mock examination - you cannot use a textbook. If you miss the exam/class - you need to do the work for the next lesson you attend (you may also be given another essay from the Essaybank).

You should conduct research before the moots (I want to see your notes).

Monday 19th October ... Britain should withdraw from the EU - Discuss.
Monday 2nd November ... Fireworks are dangerous and should be banned. Discuss.
Monday 9th November ... Pigeons are rats with wings. Discuss.
Monday 16th November ... Homework should be voluntary. Discuss.
Monday 23rd November ... January examinations should be held in June. Discuss.

 If you are doing AS Citizenship, you need thistextbook by Duncan Watts asap. The cost of this textbook, AQA AS Citizenship,  is £16.19 delivered free. Another valuable text is 'Citizenship and Participation' by Lisa Firth at a cost of just £7.45p.

The following textbooks will be needed before the start of term.    more »