Religious Studies

Overall Religious Studies Intent: 

• To engage students in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address. Students develop the skills to appreciate different cultures and societies through knowledge and understanding of diverse religious and non-religious beliefs and practices. 
• Students think critically and analytically about personal and controversial issues. 
• Students have the confidence to develop and articulate their own independent judgements. 

Key strengths of the curriculum

• Curriculum is planned to enhance cultural capital with focus on religious and non-religious worldviews, and thematic units at GCSE allowing for discussion of contemporary moral issues. 
• By the end of Year 8 all students in the school will have completed a detailed study of the six major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism and a range of non-religious worldviews.
• Curriculum is planned chronologically with Judaism preceding Christianity and Islam in Year 7 and Hinduism preceding Buddhism and Sikhism in Year 8. This allows a comparison between the religions and an insight into the ways Judaism and Hinduism influenced the other Abrahamic and Eastern religions. 
• RS lessons are a safe space for students to ask questions and discuss personal beliefs. 
• Thematic Unit including controversial and challenging topics saved for Year 10 and 11 to allow deeper level of investigation.  
• Key Stage 3 covers religion and worldviews, preparing students for GCSE with the use of evaluation questions. 

Key strengths within Religious Studies

• Knowledge and enthusiasm of the four subject specialists within the department. 
• Consistency of delivery, marking, feedback and assessment. 
• Strong pastoral responsibility within the department. Teachers care about students and understand their academic and pastoral duty.
• RS is a compulsory full GCSE and students have a high level of enthusiasm for the content and delivery of the course (particularly at years 10 and 11).  Behaviour is also very good in lessons due to positive staff relationships and the engaging nature of the course. 
• This positivity and enthusiasm for the subject is reflected in the number of students who opt to study RS at A Level. 
• Continuous review and evaluation of the RS curriculum linked to current research on religion and worldviews. 

Curriculum overviews

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