Religious Education
"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 KS3 RE curriculum is centred on understanding the core theological beliefs of the Catholic Faith through the Religious Education Directory from the Bishops of England and Wales. 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, Catholic Social Teaching values, 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 we explore world views of other faiths including Islam and the Dharmic religions (Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism). At the end of KS3, we begin the study of Judaism as a world view, which we then revisit at KS4 as part of GCSE studies. 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 Nutbeem
Mrs S Large
Miss B McGregor
Miss L Hornby
Mr J Doust
Mr T Sellars - Senior Lay Chaplain
Curriculum Overview
To ensure that all students have secure knowledge and understanding of our curriculum, students are formatively assessed each half term and summatively assessed once each term throughout Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. A variety of assessment methods are used such as extended writing, debates, presentations and creative design tasks. These assessment points allow staff to identify areas of weakness and address these gaps using Next Steps tasks to support bespoke student progress. We use a Reteach-Consolidate - Extend approach to feedback, with teaching time allocated to the re-teaching of specific subject knowledge if needed. We use this assessment data to plan for student intervention, staff development and to judge the success of the curriculum delivery. The use of keywords tools (for example, keywords lists, tests, splat mats, games, flippers) particularly at 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 to become theologians and philosophers who can critically discuss their own views and those of others. Students are given time to discern and reflect regularly in lessons, through collective worship, liturgy groups and chapel club.
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KS3 and KS4 students receive 5 hours of RE lessons per fortnight
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KS5 students who choose to study A Level RS receive 10 hours of lesson per fortnight.
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At KS5 ALL students in Sixth Form are also taught 1 hour of Core RE per fortnight.
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Years taught:
Y7-13
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Specification:
GCSE - EDUQAS Religious Studies (route B)
A-Level - EDUQAS Religious Studies
(Ethics, Philosophy and Christianity)
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Curriculum Rationale
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Request to withdraw from Religious Education
Trips and Extra-Curricular
The RE department work closely with our Senior Lay Chaplain and school leaders to run a wide and varied programme of retreats for all years - please see information under Catholic Life. Throughout the year we enhance RE lessons in a range of year groups by hosting a variety of speakers including the Good News for Everyone group, local clergy, the Benedictine Nuns at Colwich Abbey, and past pupils who have found a religious vocation. We are always looking for further speakers to visit us, so please do get in touch if you have any suggestions or connections we might enhance our student experience with!
At KS3 we are taking students to a local pilgrimage site - Our Lady of Lourdes at Hednesford - as part of our studies. We visit Singers Hill Synagogue in Birmingham annually, to bring our study of Judaism alive for our students. We also take all of Y12 to St Chads Cathedral in Birmingham every year as part of our Core RE programme of study. At A Level we attend the Professor Peter Vardy student conference at Coventry Cathedral each year. We are very excited that in February 2026 we are taking a group of KS4 and 5 students to Rome. We have future plans for a trip to Lourdes in France.
Revision Materials
GCSE Revision Resources
Useful Links
