The aim within the department is to instill an appreciation of how the media influences modern society. In doing so, we aim to develop sharp media literacy, based on critical awareness of how media texts are produced and promoted. We also seek to inspire creativity in practical production, based on an understanding of how audiences respond to media texts.

Our Media and Film Studies curriculum is ambitious because:

• We introduce students to a complex range of media texts and short/feature films that challenge their perceptions.
• The curriculum draws from the experiences and representations of different genders, cultures, religions, races and ethnicities. This provides students with a broad range of viewpoints and enhances their cultural experience.

• Students learn how the values and virtues promoted at Oaklands Catholic School work within media institutions and influence society
• We deliver a constantly changing curriculum that adapts with events in the world around us. This is both exciting and fast moving, preparing students for life beyond school. We believe that the media shapes and forms our modern society and the world around us in a more powerful way than ever before. Therefore, we seek to equip our Media Studies students with the knowledge and skills to use the media to affect positive change in their own environment.
• Students are challenged to consider and scrutinize their own ideas and opinions about media theories, institutions, representations and events. They are presented with alternative points of view and are challenged to listen to different sides of relevant debates in current theories of ethnicity, feminism, politics, Postmodernism and media ownership.
• At Oaklands we go beyond classroom teaching of exam board set media products and terminology, seeking to equip students to approach all forms of media in a critical and open-minded manner. This is reflected in the way that past students have responded to areas of the media and taken ownership of their unique products at university and in their subsequent career choices.
• We promote social justice through analytical study of how marginalised groups are represented is high on the curriculum agenda, with a focus on active audience responsibility, as opposed to passive media consumption
• We focus on how social media has changed society in both positive and negative ways and how underrepresented groups are given a voice on this platform.
• At Oaklands we go beyond classroom teaching of exam board set media products and terminology, seeking to equip students to approach all forms of media in a critical and open-minded manner. This is reflected in the way that past students have responded to areas of the media and taken ownership of their unique products at university and in their subsequent career choices.
• We promote social justice through analytical study of how marginalised groups are represented is high on the curriculum agenda, with a focus on active audience responsibility, as opposed to passive media consumption
• We focus on how social media has changed society in both positive and negative ways and how underrepresented groups are given a voice on this platform.
• Students are encouraged to think for themselves in a way that extends beyond straightforward analysis of a single text and are equipped to discover links between texts that they study in class and events taking place in the world around them.

Students begin their media journey, and often discover their passion for this subject area at Key Stage 2 and 3 in English Language, History and PDC lessons.

It is within these subject areas that students are provided with awareness of the social contexts for the texts that they will later explore in Media Studies and Film Studies. We seek to build on the previous learning of students and teach them how to use this social and analytical knowledge when approaching the texts that they are faced with at Key Stage 4 and 5.

Students acquire knowledge and understanding of how media texts and films reach specific audiences and the processes involved in creating and promoting these. We ensure students attain a firm understanding and knowledge of media ownership, examining how conglomerates accumulate and exert power and considering the implications of this model of ownership on society.

With this in mind, students consider the responsibility of the media messages that are relayed to audiences and the importance of regulation in this area

Updated August 2024