Religious Studies

Aims

Religious Studies is a subject taken by all students at Frances Bardsley Academy and contributes towards the Spiritual Moral Social and Cultural development of our students. The purpose of Religious Studies is to help students develop an understanding about their own identity, beliefs and ways of living as well as those of others. A range of religions will be taught including the non-religious belief of Humanism. It is important to us that we recognise students come from a range of different faiths and no faith and we hope that is reflected in the units we study particularly at Key Stage 3. As part of Religious Studies lessons we help to develop literacy skills in addition to skills such as self-awareness, resilience and reflection.

Teaching and Learning

A range of approaches to teaching and learning are used in Religious Studies. We encourage students to be as creative as possible not only in their written work, but through art and drama style activities also. We benefit from having access to ICT suites to use during our lessons and would sometimes encourage students to use ICT for homework projects if it suits the task. This is particularly useful as students move up to Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.

Assessment for learning

Key Stage 3 students are assessed at the end of each unit, usually every half term. They will be given a Closing the Gap sheet with feedback about what went well and next steps for improvement. In addition to this, books are marked every six lessons and feedback given where necessary. We encourage students to peer and self assess in lessons following agreed mark schemes to encourage them to have an understanding of what is required in their own work

Key Stage 4 students are assessed at the end of each GCSE topic and given feedback throughout the topic on completed exam questions. Again we encourage peer and self assessment in order for students to understand the GCSE mark scheme and be able to apply it in their exam answers. In addition their books will be marked every six lessons in line with school policy.

Home Learning

Homework is set students twice per fortnight in both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
Activities range from research tasks to reading an article and sometimes watching something on TV or YouTube that will assist with their learning in class. Key Stage 4 students will often be set practice exam questions that will be peer assessed or marked by the class teacher.
Show my Homework – all home learning activities will be published by individual staff members on the Show My Homework website which can be found by following the link on the school’s homepage. Students and parents can access this through their accounts or by filtering the results.

Equipment

No specialist equipment is needed for Religious Studies, although we hope students come to us with an open mind and ready to learn about practices both inside and outside of our own experiences.

Key Stage 3

Religious Studies

Programme of Study

Year	Autumn term		Spring term			Summer term
7	Is religion good for society?	Life of Jesus	Special Places (Big Activity Day)	Stewardship		Sikhism	Religion in Art
Assessments
8	Islamic Depth Study		First Give		Humanism	Religion and War	Human Rights
Assessments

Additional Information

Trips

6th Form Religious Studies conference
6th Form trip to St Paul’s Cathedral

We also have external speakers in throughout the year to contribute to RS lessons and events

How Parents/ Carers can help

Encourage your daughter to keep abreast of current affairs by reading the news. This will give her context to many of the issues we examine in Religious Studies.

If you have any further questions about this course, to whom do I speak?

Mrs McGrath, Mr O’Hara, Miss Thurston, or Miss Carr

Key Stage 4

Religious Studies

Programme of Study

Students follow the Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B syllabus.

Specification number: 1RB0

Link to the specification website http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/religious-studies-b-2016.html

Year 9

Students study the following topics in Year 9

Christian beliefs
Muslim beliefs
Marriage and family (Christianity)

Year 10

Students study the following topics in Year 10

Crime and Punishment (Islam)

Living the Christian life

Living the Muslim life

Year 11

Students study the following topics in Year 11

Matters of life and death (Christianity)
Peace and Conflict (Islam)
Preparation for exams

The topics make up the following units:

Paper 1 Christianity and
Ethics

Paper 2 Islam, Peace and Conflict

Christian beliefs
Living the Christian life
Marriage and family life

Matters of life and death

Muslim beliefs

Living the Muslim life

Peace and Justice

Crime and punishment

Accreditation Structure

Examination and assessment break down

e.g.

Unit	Assessment	Length	Weighting
1	Written examination	1 hour 45 mins	50%
3	Written examination	1 hour 45 mins	50%

Additional Information

Revision sessions are put on by the Religious Studies department throughout the year. Student’s mock examination data is reviewed from the November and February mock examinations to enable us to create focus groups throughout the year to prevent students from having lots of revision to cram in at the end of Year 11. We would highly recommend your daughter attends if she has been selected for a focus group early on in the year.

From the Summer Term onwards, revision is open for all both before school and after school.

How Parents/ Carers can help

Encourage your daughter to keep abreast of current affairs by reading the news. This will give her context to many of the issues we study at GCSE and will help develop her writing style.

Students are given revision guides for the November and February mock examinations that should be kept and used for the Summer examinations. At the bottom of each page are practice examination questions. We would strongly encourage your daughter to complete these as part of her revision programme. The Religious Studies department are happy to mark these and give feedback.

If you have any further questions about this course, to whom do I speak?

Mrs McGrath, Mr O’Hara, Miss Thurston, or Miss Carr

Key Stage 5

Subject

Programme of Study

Students follow the Eduqas A Level Religious Studies syllabus.

Specification number: 601/8700/1

Link to the specification website: http://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/religious-studies/as-a-level/eduqas-a-level-religious-studies-spec-from-2016.pdf?language_id=1&dotcache=no&dotcache=refresh

Year 12

Christianity

Philosophy of Religion

Religion and Ethics

Year 13

Christianity

Philosophy of Religion

Religion and Ethics

Accreditation Structure

Unit	Assessment	Length	Weighting
Component 1: Christianity	Written examination	2 hours	33.3% of A-level
Component 2: Philosophy of Religion	Written examination	2 hours	33.3% of A-level
Component 3: Religion and Ethics	Written examination	2 hours	33.3% of A-level

Additional Information

In Year 12 students are invited to a Candle Conference in London to develop their knowledge for the Philosophy and Ethics examinations.

Students are advised to read more challenging newspapers to keep up to date with current affairs as this would be particularly useful for the Ethics unit.

How Parents/ Carers can help

Encourage students to watch a range of television programmes covering current affairs and religious issues to develop their knowledge for the Ethics unit.

Encourage students to read around the subject areas to develop their depth of knowledge.

If you have any further questions about this course, to whom do I speak?

Mrs McGrath, Head of Religious Studies

Religious Studies

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