Religious Education

Head of Department: Mr C Lawrence

The teaching of RE at Oldershaw seeks to engage pupils in a range of religious, moral and ethical issues and equip them with the relevant knowledge to form their own balanced opinions. All pupils study RE at key stage 3 with the option to choose it as a GCSE. In order to ensure excellent outcomes in RE, pupils receive detailed marking and feedback, whereby explicit guidance is given to pupils on classwork and homework, providing advice on how to further improve their work in line with GCSE requirements. This is a specific focus during assessment periods, including mock exams, whereby revision lessons are built in, to the scheme of learning, prior to the exam and a reflection time in the lessons afterwards for pupils to analyse their performance. Additional after school revision sessions are provided for year 11 pupils with our RE specialist, Miss Morgan, to help all pupils maximise their academic potential.

Our curriculum provides students with plenty of opportunity to show pride in their written work and in their ability to form and support opinions. They can show kindness to others through a variety of collaborative learning techniques and also through expressing their opinions in a way that does not offend.

At Key stage 4 pupils follow the Pearson Edexcel B Religious Education GCSE. For Paper 1 this involves studying Religion and Ethics with a focus on Christianity and for Paper 2 Religion, Peace and Conflict with a focus on Islam. Resilience during the exam period is vital as GCSE RE is linear, so pupils sit both exam papers at the end of year 11, in the space of 2 weeks. The breakdown is as follows: Paper 1 (1 hour 45 minutes) worth 50% (102 marks) and Paper 2 (1 hour 45 minutes) worth 50% (102 marks).

Academic success in GCSE RE can lead to more advanced study in our sixth form, at key stage 5, whereby pupils with a passion for the subject are able to study A-Level RE or other social sciences such as history, geography or psychology. Studying RE can lead to a future career in education, journalism, social work, community development work and the civil service. It also entails analytical thinking and communication skills, both vital for immediate employment.

In Year 7

we seek to embed a real understanding of different cultures and religions through our study of other world religions. This knowledge helps pupils to challenge stereotypes and the interactive, often collaborative way it is taught also evokes a real love of learning in students in RE. We also study Christianity, providing pupils with a clear understanding of Christian festivals and how it reflects our calendar here in Britain, for example, through topics such as the purpose of advent, the life of Jesus and the events of holy week. Once again we seek to ensure that religion is made relevant and this is done through topics such as Christian beliefs which links biblical teachings to the modern world. Other topics, such as lives of faith and being human allow us to study the impact of these teachings on individuals and their everyday life.

In Year 8

pupils study a range of moral and ethical issues and how religion affects people’s views on these. These topics include: ultimate questions, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, wealth and poverty and war and peace. These are hugely relevant in the 21st century and as such provide our pupils with a greater understanding of the world around them and better equipped to form their own opinions.

In Year 9

pupils commence their 3 year GCSE study with the Religion and Ethics unit, for Paper 1, covering Christian beliefs, living the Christian life and marriage and the family.

In Year 10

pupils complete the Religion and Ethics unit with a study of matters of life and death in relation to the Christian faith. We then move on to the Religion, Peace and Conflict unit through a study of Islam. This is assessed in Paper 2 and starts by covering Muslim beliefs and living the Muslim life.

In Year 11

pupils complete this unit by studying a range of issues such as Crime and Punishment and Peace and conflict, all with reference to the Islamic faith. The final term is spent preparing pupils for their GCSE examinations whereby the course content is reviewed and exam technique is practised thoroughly to give all our pupils the best chance of exam success.