Philosophy, Religion and Ethics
Intent
In Philosophy, Religion and Ethics we have a constantly evolving curriculum which adapts to current local, national and international issues. This helps students discover more about their community and the world they are growing up in. Our intention is to develop learners who ask questions about the environment they live in, who challenge beliefs that they once took as facts and to develop confident well rounded students who feel their opinion is listened to and valued. Each year we endeavour to make our discussion questions even more engaging and to give students more opportunities for experiential learning.
Implementation
Students in Year 7 and 8 have two Philosophy, Religion and Ethics lessons per fortnight and Year 9 have one lesson. Students can then opt to take Religious Studies as a GCSE option. To ensure students transition from Primary School RE where students focus on specific subject knowledge, we study topics formed around enquiry questions (rather than subject topic based) at KS3 such as ‘Does religion help people be good?’, ‘Should religious believers be greener than everyone else?’, ‘Should happiness be the purpose of life?’ and ‘How far does it make a difference if you believe in life after death?’’ At KS4 this is then extended further as part of our commitment to all-through education, where students are still provided with enquiry questions for different lessons, but the focus is on detail and developing their knowledge and understanding.
To ensure we provide a broad and balanced curriculum, we aim to encourage students to question and engage with the world they live in. We have also tried to provide lots of opportunities for students to immerse themselves in Britain’s multi-cultural society. This is done through activities such as our Birmingham places of worship trip, Buddhist centre visit, Holocaust survivor testimonies and trips to local locations of religious significance.
If students opt to study Religious Studies at GCSE, they will follow the WJEC Eduqas specification, and will investigate issues touched upon in KS3 further. Looking into questions such as ‘Is marriage out of date?’, ‘Was Jesus just an ordinary man?’ and ‘Why is there suffering in the world?’
Students join us with a varied understanding of subject information. Therefore, the idea is not simply to cover content (we fill in the gaps that are there) but it is also about addressing engaging enquiry questions and considering a range of non-religious/religious perspectives/our own views in relation to these questions.
A more detailed breakdown of subject content at both key stages can be found by looking at our curriculum overview documents.