Philosophy, Religion and Ethics

Rationale

The study of religion is increasingly important as it allows learners to explore topics which influence social and political events and are crucial to understanding the shape of our current multicultural society. We offer pupils an in-depth understanding of a number of religious traditions including Buddhism, Christianity, and at Key Stage Three Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Pupils will be challenged with questions about belief, values, meaning, purpose and truth, enabling them to develop their own attitudes towards religious issues. Pupils will learn about and learn from the beliefs and examples of others and also investigate philosophical and ethical arguments on a number of wide ranging contemporary world issues and explore their impact and influence in the modern world. We have high expectations about scholarship in the curriculum so that what is taught and learned in RE is grounded in what is known about religion/non-religion from academic study. We aim to:

• Stimulate curiosity about a variety of religious cultures and to understand the place of religion and non-religion in the world.
• To engage in and tackle fundamental religious and non-religious questions such as ‘what is the morally right thing to do? How should we live together?
• We also seek to develop pupils’ ability to create cogent and rigorous argument; analyse texts and arguments; explain, accurately summarise, and evaluate material clearly and concisely and develop criticisms of other people's arguments and view.
• For pupils to develop transferable skills so as to be well equipped to play an important part in society, valued for their spirit of enquiry and curiosity; their ability to think critically and to act upon it and for their understanding of the depth and nuance of human experience.

Philosophy, Religion and Ethics - Core

This is a new curriculum from September 2025 which all students from Years 7-9 will follow.  The 22/23 cohort (Year 10 in September 2025) will be following a different curriculum as they prepare for their GCSE in the summer of 2026, and the website will be updated to reflect this change in due course.

Religious Education

For those who choose Religious Education as a GCSE option in the 23/24 cohort (Year 9 in September 2025), the following curriculum will apply in addition to the above.

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage Three schools are encouraged to follow their Locally Agreed Syllabus. We do so, but also seek to meet the needs of students and reflect the interests and faiths of the local community. To reflect the interests and faiths of the local community we have introduced sessions on Hinduism. In these sessions we explore key beliefs and significant festivals, such as Diwali and Tihar.

Indeed, to enrich the learning of key beliefs, practices and ways of living, festivals of all religions taught are explored and students are made aware of national and local places of worship. The department also provides further opportunities for RE beyond the classroom with projects such as 'The light of the world' project with FSG international partner schools. In Key Stage 3 pupils will have two periods devoted to Religious Education every fortnight.

The aim of the RE course is to provide pupils with a sound background to the major world religions. Much of the course involves discussion and pupils are encouraged to express their considered views with tolerance and respect. Religious Education will help you to:

• Develop a philosophical imagination with the ability to form cogent arguments.
• Find out about other people and the things that are important to them.
• Understand why some people enjoy being religious.
• Consider what you think is right and wrong and why you come to these conclusions.
• Decide on your own way to live and which beliefs you want to hold. Lessons are designed to stimulate curiosity about a variety of religious cultures, their histories and their influence.
• Learners consider questions which are of fundamental concern, both for individuals and societies, questions about the meaning and purpose of human life, and the values by which we live such as democracy;
• Justice; individual liberty; equality and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.

Key Stage 4 - Philosophy, Religion and Ethics - Core

Philosophy, Religion and Ethics lessons in year 9 and 10 are compulsory and will deepen pupils understanding of diverse religious and non-religious perspectives, fostering personal reflection and preparing them for engagement in a pluralistic society.

Pupils will continue to develop their understanding of major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism) and non-religious perspectives will opportunities to reflect on their own beliefs and values.

Plus topics including:

Pupils will explore ethical dilemmas and moral philosophy exploring case studies on moral dilemmas from various religious and philosophical viewpoints. Philosophy, religion and the arts. Examine fundamental questions related to the nature, purpose, and value of art and explore how art interacts with human experience, emotions, and society. Philosophy religion and Animals. -Is there something distinctive about humanity that justifies the idea that humans have moral status while non-humans do not? Science and Religion,  Crime,  What makes us human?

Key Stage 4 - Religious Education GCSE

We follow AQA Religious studies A. The study of Christianity and Buddhists beliefs and practices and contemporary themes of Crime and Punishment; Social Justice; Conflict and Peace and Arguments for the Existence of God. Lessons are designed to enable learners to develop and justify their own answers to some of the most fundamental and important questions such as: What makes something the morally right thing to do? Do we have free will? Does God exist?

All schools must take the Christianity paper as our second religious perspective we have chosen Buddhism not least because it allows us to develop learners conceptual knowledge and critical thinking skills as we encourage them to understand and explain similarities as well as differences.

Themes: We have chosen ‘Themes’ rather than the study other world religions:

• To engage students, we investigate a wide range of contemporary world issues.
• To develop cross-curriculum awareness (identify and make use of material covered in disciplines such as Geography, History, Science) and knowledge of global perspectives on how disciplinary knowledge is represented and understood within other cultures. Examination results are of course important, but we also believe the journey is as important as the outcome.
• To develop pupils’ ability to think rigorously about the most fundamental questions concerning the nature of reality, the good life and human understanding. We have elected to teach religious and philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God and their impact and influence in the modern world. In this course student will explore arguments of Theologians such as St Aquinas as well as secular Philosophical arguments from thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, J. S. Mill and Bertrand Russell.
• Pupils will also explore contemporary issues such as: Cause of crime; Terrorism; the causes and consequences of poverty in the UK and beyond; Responsibility of wealth; Causes of prejudice such as Homophobia, Sexism, Racism; How the law protects people and its effectiveness in doing so.

Online Resources

Exam Boards

GCSE - AQA

If you would like to know more about our curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact the school.