Religious Education (Y7-13)
"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire"
St Catherine of Siena
Religious Education is central to life at Blessed William Howard. The RE curriculum aims to provide all students with an understanding of and respect for the beliefs of others, as well as an opportunity to reflect on the formation of their own beliefs and values. We aim to enable students to become theologians and philosophers, with enquiring minds. The RE curriculum is centred on understanding the core theological beliefs of the Abrahamic faiths. We aim to ensure that students are able to explain the importance of these beliefs and are confident in analysing why certain beliefs are held, including the diversity across religious traditions and the beliefs of those of no faith. In essence, the RE curriculum is about students growing as a person within a loving and caring community, about asking questions and seeking answers. It is about being open to the possibility of God's love and the reality of his presence with us.
Religious Education at Blessed William Howard is about love of God, love of people, love of learning and ultimately, love of life. We make clear links in lessons to our school mission statement, the beatitudes and other British values such as tolerance and mutual respect. RE at BWH is the ideal place to explore these values and to build upon student understanding of how they are developed and lived out. At KS3 the use of key concepts and supra glossaries allows us to ensure that students are suitably challenged. Alongside this, our knowledge-rich curriculum, detailed below, is designed to challenge learners of all abilities and to give them the cultural awareness that they need to succeed in life.
Subject staff
Mrs C Chell - Curriculum Leader
Miss H Clewer
Mrs C Ley
Miss S Fraser
Mrs H Duffield, Vice Principal
Curriculum Overview
To ensure that all students have secure knowledge and understanding of our curriculum students are formatively assessed each fortnight, and summatively assessed each half term, throughout Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. A variety of assessment methods are used such as extended writing, debates and creative design tasks. Progress trackers and Personalised Learning Checklists are used to ensure that teachers can be responsive in addressing areas of weakness. We use a reteach-consolidate-extend approach to feedback, with teaching time allocated to the re-teaching of specific knowledge if necessary. We use this assessment data to judge the success of the curriculum, regularly reviewing the allocated teaching time for future planning. The use of knowledge organisers, particularly in KS4, allows for a more thorough grasp of religious vocabulary and assessment of students’ use of it. The impact of the curriculum upon students is becoming theologians and philosophers who can critically discuss their own views and that of others. They take time to reflect through participation in Collective Worship, Liturgy groups, Prayer club and Wednesday Word. They take time to actively participate in fundraising activities, recognising everyone as a child of God. We also take into account those students who choose to do related subjects at A-Level and University.
- KS3 and KS4 pupils have 5 hours of RE per fortnight.
- Those who choose to take Religious Studies as an A-Level have 10 hours per fortnight.
At KS5 A-Level EDUQAS Religious Studies is taught: Ethics, Philosophy and Christianity.
All KS5 students are also taught Core RE. All KS5 have Core RE for one hour per week.
Trips and Extra-Curricular
The RE department work closely with those who lead the Catholic Life of the School to run and support retreats for all years groups e.g. to Alton Castle, Soli House, Savio House and the Briars. Other trips and visits take place throughout the school, for example Year 7 have visits from Good News for Everyone and Year 9 visit the Synagogue. We are always looking for more opportunities to enhance students learning in RE and would invite parents to share any connections they have!
Revision Materials
Useful Links
- GCSE Specification - Look for route B
- A-Level Specification
