Child Development – Mrs J Witting (Subject Leader: Child Care)

(Please note that this GCSE course is available in the time normally allocated to two option subjects, to cater for students who may require a less demanding curriculum pace.)

It is an ideal subject for students considering careers in teaching, nursery education, nursing, midwifery and social work. It will suit students who are well motivated, good at meeting deadlines and enjoy coursework.  It covers a detailed specification and has strong links with biology.

The assessment of this course is based on the full range of GCSE grades from A* - G and consists of Examination: 40% for which there is one tier of entry and Coursework: 60% where the students will complete three short tasks and a more detailed child study during the two years.

Three short resource tasks are completed

Each short task will account for 10% of the final grade. Areas covered are related to the course content such as an investigation into the different types of nappies, weaning a baby, healthy pregnancy and looking at bottle and breast feeding.

One individual task

This accounts for 30% of the final grade. This is a more detailed piece of coursework which involves completing a child study relating to play. The students will need to have access to a child between the ages of one and five to observe six times over a period of several months.

Course content:

You will study the following topics:

• Pregnancy and parenthood, including the responsibility of parenthood, reproduction, family planning, pregnancy, preparation for birth, labour, types of delivery, post-natal care.
• Physical development, covering the needs of the baby, stages of development, safety, sleep and clothing.
• Intellectual, social and emotional development, looking at the stages of development, learning through play, learning to be sociable, development of language, development of personality and emotional health.
• Nutrition and health, including feeding babies and young children, nutritional needs, breast and bottle feeding, food products available for weaning, illnesses and immunisation.
• Family and community, different types of family, types of child care available, voluntary and statutory services, the needs of children who have learning difficulties, home, garden and road safety.