We want our students to develop religious literacy by:

• investigating religions and worldviews through a variety of experiences and academic approaches/disciplines and experiences so they can explain and analyse beliefs and practices
• appreciating and appraising the nature, significance and impact of religious beliefs and practices and their influence on individuals and communities
• reflecting on and expressing their own ideas and the ideas of others with increasing discernment, creativity and clarity
• becoming wise interpreters of, and self-reflectors, on their encounters with other people, recognising how their personal worldview both shapes, and is shaped, by these encounters
• becoming increasingly able to dialogue with religions and worldviews in an informed, rational and insightful way, exploring differences of opinion on controversial issues, in a constructive way.
• considering whether religious values and teachings can have anything to offer in today’s modern and fast-paced world to a non-religious individual or community about belonging, living together respectfully, meaning, purpose and truth.

Religious Education should also promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through a structured and safe space to reflect, discuss, dialogue and debate. 

With this in mind we use a wide range of pedagogical and learning approaches. We are a pro-active department with a local and national reputation. One member of staff has been on the NATRE executive (the national body of RE teachers) and has been involved in national developments for curriculum review and new exam specifications. Other staff members are AQA examiners. Within Kent, we have links to SACRE, Canterbury Christ Church University, Thames Gateway Teaching School Hub and deliver training and support to other schools.

Click here for the RE Curriculum Map

Content

The law requires that local authority Religious Education agreed syllabuses and Religious Education syllabuses used in academies that are not designated with a religious character ‘must reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain’. This means that Christianity will always be the religion given the most curriculum time.

Unlike other subjects in the curriculum Religious Education has its curriculum decided locally by SACRE. This means we can create a curriculum personalised for Highworth students.

In KS3 the focus is on exploring big questions e.g. 'Does religion make the world a better place?', 'Do we need to prove the existence of God?' and 'What is good and what is challenging about being a religious teenager in the UK?', ‘How far should we steward the planet?’

In Year 7 & 8 the religions studied are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism alongside Humanist perspectives on these issues.The focus is on developing skills which will lead into GCSE.

Year 9 continues to revisit and develop skills but emphasises skills necessary for GCSE success e.g. revision, effective note taking and introduces GCSE style assessment questions. The religions studied are Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

Assessment, Marking and Feedback

• Student work will be completed in the provided exercise book, on paper or in the form of display work.
• Assessed pieces of work are the culmination of a unit of work and will be marked in detail using a specific mark scheme. This is based on what is the expected standard for a student at this stage in Year 7, 8 or 9 if they are progressing sufficiently to achieve a grade 6/7, or higher, in their GCSE Religious Studies. Being awarded an M2, M1 or E means a student is ‘on track’ to achieve highly, being awarded an M3 or W means insufficient progress is being made. In this situation the class teacher will be exploring why this is and considering what support can be given.
• Please be aware that assessments become more challenging during each academic year so a achieving a consistent M2 is progress.
• All students have an A5 sheet in their books outlining the skills needed to be on track for their year.
• Years 7 and 8 have a record sheet to complete and record their target. The specific mark scheme for each assessment picks up on these skills and applies them to each assessment. Year 9 are given more class specific feedback to respond to following each assessment.
• Work outside of this is marked at the discretion of the teacher using personalised comments or stamps.
• At times, independent or peer evaluation may be used to support and engage students in the assessment of their own work and the setting of future targets.
• The school Reward System will be applied as appropriate.
• Interim Reviews (IR) – GCSE Religious Studies requires a student to be equally good at both AO1 (knowledge & understanding) and AO2 (analysis & evaluation). A teacher’s professional judgement will be made combining both AO1 and AO2 skills to determine whether a student is secure at meeting the expected standard. 

Assessment grids

Please click here for the Key Stage 3 Yr9 

Please click here for the Key Stage 3 Yr7 & Yr8

Content 

All students should have the opportunity to study and sit an exam in Religious Studies*. It is an academic subject and highly valued by employers and universities. Highworth appreciates the value of the subject and all students sit a full course GCSE, consistently achieving some of the best results in the school.

We study the AQA Specification A Course.  We are studying Christianity and Islam for paper 1 and four moral issues for paper 2 - war and peace, religion and life, religion, crime and punishment and religion, human rights and social justice.

There is no coursework, just an end of course exam, consisting of 2 papers each lasting 1 hour 45 minutes.

* ‘The national curriculum in England: Framework document’, September 2013, p.4. See also ‘Religious Education in English Schools: Non-Statutory Guidance on RE’ 2010, the Education Reform Act 1988, DfEE Circular 1/94 and the REact syllabus)  

Assessment, Marking and Feedback 

• Students are responsible for maintaining and collating their notes in an orderly fashion. They are given an A4 exercise book to record their notes. A book check and review will be held during each topic. 
• The focus of marking at GCSE is on examination practice questions and learning the technique required for top quality answers. These can be set as homework, classwork or timed end of unit assessments. These are set regularly, marked and returned to the student with appropriate formative comments, targets and encouragement. The criteria established by the examination board may be used to form the comment made. Such marking will be completed within two weeks, if not before. Sometimes feedback will be verbal and given via the whole class or a small group if many students have the same area of weakness.
• Students have the opportunity to purchase detailed revision packs. At present we do not recommend the purchase of commercially published GCSE revision packs.
• The school Reward System will be applied as appropriate.
• Students deemed to be achieving consistently high standards or showing an excellent work ethos should be recommended to the Head of Department and a postcard can be sent home.

Specification 

Please click here for the AQA GCSE Religious Studies specification A

Content 

The course followed is AQA A Level Religious Studies and consists of 4 areas of study:

1. Philosophy of Religion. Topics include: the existence of God; the problem of evil; religious experiences; miracles; and the soul.
2. Ethics. Topics include: ethical theories of decision making; the application of ethical theories to decision making on issues e.g. abortion, free will & conscience.
3. Religion – a study of Christianity. Topics include: considering sources of authority; key moral principles; issues of sexuality; science; secularisation; and religious pluralism.
4. Dialogues between religion & philosophy and religion & ethics.

This is a 2 year course with no coursework. Students will be examined via 2 exam papers each lasting 3 hours at the end of Year 13.

Assessment and feedback

Students are responsible for maintaining and collating their notes in an orderly fashion. The majority use paper and secure ring binders, others prefer to use electronic forms of note taking and storage. Content review will be held regularly.

The focus of marking at A Level is on examination practice questions and learning the technique required for top quality answers. These can be set as homework, classwork or timed end of unit assessments. These are set regularly, marked and returned to the student with appropriate formative comments, targets and encouragement. The criteria established by the examination board may be used to form the comment made. Such marking will be completed within two weeks, if not before. Sometimes feedback will be verbal and given via the whole class, a small group, or individually, depending on the number of students with the same area of weakness.

Students are provided with detailed revision packs.

The school Reward System will be applied as appropriate.

Specification 

Please click here for the AQA A Level Religious Studies specification

Advice

For exam success, it is better to be the tortoise than the hare!

Step 1 - We advise students to begin by learning the content through a revision method that works for them. Every student is different and students will have already had support and ideas to discover what this method is. Little and often, 20 minute chunks with a quick 5 minute break helps retention. Regular testing of facts is also helpful on a weekly basis.

Step 2 – Look at exam questions, model answers and writing frames. What do you need to be able to do to achieve your goal? If unsure please ask.

Step 3 – Plan answers to all exam questions, even the scary and difficult ones! This saves thinking time in the exam and boosts confidence that you understand the question and can write good answers. Share ideas with your teacher.

Step 4 – Practise answering questions under timed conditions. Your teacher will mark them for you.

We recommend the RE GCSE department written revision packs because they have the detail for grades 7 – 9 and are focussed on the topics for AQA exam specifications.

Revision packs are also available for A Level students.

The RE team run lunchtime 'drop-in sessions', with RE subject prefect help, throughout the school year where students wanting extra help, some quiet time to study or to ask questions are welcome to attend. We also run an after-school 'drop-in session' just for A Level students.

Past papers

Limited past papers can be found for GCSE and A level on the AQA website.

However, the department has written very detailed revision guides which contain large numbers of practice questions, based on exam board advice on new questions, and also model answers on how to answer and gain full marks. These will be available for students in Year 10 and Year 11.

Revision packs & resources are available to students studying A Level. 

Useful external links

www.request.org.uk – good for Key Stage 3 and GCSE

www.truetube.co.uk – RE version of YouTube – young people create the resources on religion, ethics, PSHE, Citizenship & social issues etc. Key Stage 3 and GCSE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/guide/ - old bit of the BBC website but good for ethical issues for GCSE and A Level

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion - good for unusual and interesting articles for all year groups

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/ - old bit of the BBC website but great for factual information on the key religions and atheism

www.ted.com/talks - short, powerful talks on issues affecting everyone. Good extension viewing for GCSE and A Level

http://www.philosopherkings.co.uk/ - written for the old A Level specifications and not for AQA, this has some great resources but do remember to keep focussed on what your own exam spec needs!

https://thepanpsycast.com/ - fab podcasts on all things A level! Great if you want a taster of university level work and to go beyond an A level syllabus.

Potential careers

Religious Studies is an academic and highly valued GCSE and A Level subject.

Some students go on to study a degree involving Philosophy, Religious Studies or Theology and their careers are varied – have a look at this piece of research  to find out the most popular careers & it isn’t becoming a nun or a priest! 

Many students use an RS qualification to show their skills to a potential employer or university course and because it makes them stand-out from the more usual A Level subjects. Highworth students with A Level RS have been accepted onto top Russell group university law and medicine courses, to study speech & language therapy, Biology, foreign languages or midwifery in recent years amongst the more usual entries of English, another Humanity, Sociology or Psychology. We also have a former student working for Deloitte in London training to become an accountant.

RS suits students looking for a career working with people in some capacity. The police and NHS value an RS qualification because it shows a potential recruit has empathy, an understanding of different cultures and beliefs in a multi-faith society and is articulate at communicating with other people. Others go on to work in PR and communications or project managing. Perhaps it is easier to think of a career an RS qualification would not be useful in!

https://www.natre.org.uk/news/latest-news/videos-of-careers-for-graduates-in-theology-and-religious-studies/    - 10 fab videos of people with RS/Theology degrees & it’s not careers in teaching, social work and being a vicar!

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190401-why-worthless-humanities-degrees-may-set-you-up-for-life - if your passion is the humanities do not feel pressurised into taking STEM subjects for A level or degree, especially if you are not sure what career path you would like. As this fantastic article shows most jobs want transferable skills and an A level or degree in Theology, Religious Studies, Philosophy or Ethics is going to give you plenty. What good is it being a doctor if you can’t appreciate the ethical dilemmas & communicate with your patient? Invent something incredible but you cannot ‘sell’ the product to the public? It also explores salaries.

Alumni

Former Highworth students with RS as a qualification are doing a huge variety of careers from law, medicine, orology, social work, IT project managing to teaching/lecturing, midwifery, finance, PR and student counselling services. Please ask us if you would like to be put in contact with an alumni who has followed a career path you are considering.

Clubs

• Philosophical Ultimatum - 

  Philosophical Ultimatum is about exploring a statement or question to appreciate how it can be understood in different ways and what factors we might need to explore in order to gain a deeper understanding of the question. We don't always manage to come up with an answer!  Recent questions have included:

  • Are we in control of our own lives?
  • Would society be better without money?
  • Is right always right?

This is aimed at Sixth form students but is also open to Years 10 and 11. 

For more information please contact Mrs Poore c.poore@highworth.kent.sch.uk

• A Level and GCSE Support Sessions run all year.
• Please be aware there is also a Christian Union – for more information please contact Mr Swinney r.swinney@highworth.kent.sch.uk
• A quiet space and prayer room for students of any faith is provided every lunchtime. Please contact Miss Pope for more information e.pope@highworth.kent.sch.uk 

Such is the value and importance of appreciating the impact of religion on individuals and wider society, let alone the skills it can develop, some continued study of RE is legally required in the Sixth form. The RE team liaise with the PSHE lead and the Sixth Form Team to deliver sessions relevant to Sixth form students. These have included an introduction to some of the biggest names in Philosophy, the impact of religion and culture on relationships and the impact of immigration on UK demographics and society. If there is something you would like to explore, please talk to someone in the RE team.