Philosophy, Religion & Ethics
Curriculum
YEARS 7 AND 8
In Key Stage 3 students study philosophy, religion and ethics (PRE). Our aim is twofold; firstly, to give students knowledge and understanding of topics and issues relevant to life today and, secondly, to improve their ability to be critical and evaluative thinkers. We encourage our students to be curious and questioning so they can give reasoned and supported opinions but at the same time have respect for others’ views different from theirs.
Year 7 students study: Judaism, prejudice and discrimination, Christianity, ultimate questions, Hinduism and religion and art.
Year 8 students study: Buddhism, the problem of evil, argument for and against the existence of God, Islam, peace and conflict and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
YEAR 9, YEAR 10 AND YEAR 11
At the beginning of Year 9 all students study for their GCSE short course in religious education by completing units from the Edexcel syllabus. The syllabus includes the study of two major world religions examining their beliefs, philosophy and practices.
Year 9 students study: Islam core beliefs and crime and punishment.
Year 10 students study: Christianity core beliefs and marriage and the family.
There is the option to take Full Course in Year 10 and the units studied in Year 9 are part of this course.
Full Course study year 10 and 11: As above, plus Living the Islamic Life and peace and conflict and Living the Christian life and matters of life and death.
A LEVEL YEARS 12 AND 13
At A Level students study the OCR philosophy and ethics religious studies exam board. Through the course students will analyse key ethical, philosophical and theological theories and scholars and develop their critical thinking skills. This A Level challenges students to explore the big questions in life. Does God exist? Why is there evil and suffering? What happens after death? What is a conscience? How do we make moral choices? Who is Jesus? What is human nature? The students will enjoy the challenge of investigating scholars’ work and theories and finding their own confidence to voice their opinions and debate.
Trips and Visits
As part of the PRE course we feel it is valuable for students to both learn and experience different aspects of religion therefore we have a number of trips and speaking visitors.
Year 8: Currently we invite visiting speakers to provide activities during the summer term.
Year 10/11: To prevent interruption for other GCSE subjects there are no outside visits during Key Stage 4, however, the Christian group, STEP, are invited in to discuss their views on the topics we study throughout the GCSE course.
Year 12/13 students are encouraged to attend conferences, usually held in London.
