Religious Education
The RE department’s aim is to support both the values and aim of the Academy by promoting truth, justice, respect for all and care of the environment. It places emphasis on students valuing themselves and others and the celebration of diversity through understanding similarities and differences. RE also recognises the changing nature of society, allowing individuals to develop a knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs, including changes in religious practices and expression and how these have relevance in our understanding of society as a whole. As a subject RE also promotes an enquiring approach where students are able to evaluate their own and others’ views through reasoning and development of an informed manner.
Staff
| Mrs K Swain | Lead Teacher of RE |
| Mrs W Phillips | Teacher of RE |
| Ms C Ord | Teacher of RE |
Curriculum
RE within the Academy curriculum encourages students to develop their sense of identity and belonging. It enables them to flourish individually within their immediate community and as citizens in a diverse society and global community. RE has an important role in preparing students for adult life, employment and lifelong learning. It enables students to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own. It promotes discernment and enables students to combat prejudice. The skills learnt within RE are particularly helpful for those students wishing to pursue a career within Public Services where a focus is placed on the needs of the UK’s diverse society (the BTEC Public Services courses are already offered within the Academy curriculum at both Key Stages 4 & 5).
Key Stage 3
There are a number of key concepts that underpin the study of RE at Key Stage 3. Students need to know these concepts in order to deepen and broaden their knowledge, skills and understanding. The concepts are beliefs, teachings and sources, practices and ways of life, expressing meaning, identity, diversity and belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, values and commitments and evaluating their own and others’ values in order to make informed and rational choices. In practice students gain their knowledge by firstly learning about religion and secondly by learning from religion.
During Years 7 & 8 students currently have the opportunity to learn about the 6 World Religions and also look at the topics of Ways of Communicating, Awe & Wonder and Ultimate Questions.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 students continue to learn about RE within their Social Awareness classes. They specifically look at the topic of Moral Issues, so that they are able to give different examples of these issues, discuss them in some detail, and put forward different viewpoints, both religious and non-religious. They should also be able to explain how organisations and individuals work to change situations because of their beliefs and be able to express their own views about this topic.