Religious Studies
Head of Department: Mrs K McLellan
Religious Studies (RS) concentrates on learning about and from religion. More specifically, the course explores the differences and defining factors between the six major world religions.
During Year 7, students begin RS by examining the 3 types of believers (theist/atheist/agnostic) in relation to arguments for the existence of God. From this basis Year 7 students go on to look at Christianity, Buddhism and religious attitudes towards the environment.
The first term of Year 8 focuses on ‘Planet X’, a fictional planet which is suffering due to a lack of rules. Students are given the responsibility of governing Planet X and through independent learning develop an understanding of religious and non-religious rules.
Year 8 students go on to study Sikhism and are given the opportunity to visit a Sikh place of worship: the Gurdwara. Students in Year 9 focus on topics including good versus evil, religion versus science and ideas on suffering. These topics provide ample opportunity to develop essential skills needed for GCSE RS; such as expressing their own opinions, debating and listening to others.
GCSE RS follows the AQA syllabus, focusing on Christianity and Buddhism and is solely examination based. The variety of the AQA syllabus allows for a depth of understanding of both historical and contemporary issues. For example, major topics include: rites of passage, moral issues, religious scriptures, founding moments and basic teachings. In addition, there is also an opportunity to visit a Buddhist Temple and a Christian Church.
Year 10 and 11 Core RS builds upon skills developed in Year 9. Topics covered link closely to the Personal Social and Development (PSD) course and cover interesting topics such as family relationships; drugs, alcohol and smoking; post-16 education and issues regarding life and death. As a result of the topics covered, Core RS provides ample opportunity for discussion, independent learning and cross-curricular links.
Students in years 7-9 are assessed in Religious Studies against criteria which are based on National Curriculum levels.
