Politics as a discrete subject is taught in Years 12 and 13. We follow the Edexcel ‘ Government and Politics' course at AS Level and their Route B (Political Ideologies) option at A2. This means that Year 12 is focused on the British political system and how it operates while Year 13 is concerned with the development of the ideological background and ultimately with relating the ideas and attitudes of contemporary politics to the knowledge of the system and the political parties gained in Year 12.

In following the course and its specifications, we make use of all the teaching techniques available, but Politics as a subject lends itself particularly well to lively discussion and active participation in a whole range of activities like the Youth Parliament Competition (run by the Citizenship Foundation), the staging of ‘Schools Question Time’, attending political events (for example, girls have been in the audience of ‘Question Time' at the BBC, attended the Labour Party Conference as representatives of peer group opinion, and taken part in conferences at the Department for Constitutional Affairs ).

The girls themselves visit Parliament and attend schools’ conferences along with many of their peers from other schools. Many go on to study politics at university, either as a single subject or as part of degree courses combining Politics with languages, economics, history and social and political science.

Politics at JAGS has a very wide remit. Political history and the development of the constitution – the formation of today’s liberal democracy - are central concerns of the History and Politics Department and are dealt with from Year 7 onwards. We aim to prepare all JAGS girls to take an informed and responsible part in that democracy, whether they opt for Politics as an academic subject at A level or not.