Trust Curriculum Intent

Our mission is to provide a cradle to career education that allows our children to enjoy lives of choice and opportunity. By the age of 18, we want every child to have the option of university or a high quality alternative. 

Subject Curriculum Intent

• Equality (and with it inclusivity and diversity) through building cultural capital
• Delivering academic rigour and high challenge
• Building character (and therefore a community based on self-esteem and tolerance)

Curriculum Principles

• Reverse Planning is approached in the Religious Studies curriculum by the careful selection and sequencing of learning outcomes and lesson vocabulary from A Level Religion, Philosophy and Ethics to Key Stage 3 RE. This is achieved by teaching to the top and reverse planning down to KS3, with the use of subject associations such as NATRE, exam board mark schemes and examiner reports. Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary is explicitly shared with students through expert teaching techniques.  Lessons are pitched for the highest ability students to be successful with effective scaffolding and implemented for all learners to achieve their aspirational academic potential. In Religious Studies this may be through discussion, regular low-stake testing or adapted resources.

• Powerful Knowledge is developed in the Religious Studies curriculum through revisiting key concepts across different themes and topics to build greater breadth, depth and complexity of understanding, with clear opportunities for students to make meaningful connections in their schema. Low stakes quizzing, interleaving questions and end of topic tests assess recent and iterative knowledge to consolidate a deeper understanding of multiple concepts. Students revisit the themes of belief in God, religious practices, equality and ethical decision making through different contexts across schemes of learning. This could be how Christians and Sikhs demonstrate equality, why they demonstrate equality and influential people who have helped gain equality, for example. Formative assessment in day to day lessons and less regular summative assessment captures current and previous knowledge.  

• Cultural Capital is embedded throughout the curriculum. Our intention is to provide students with the knowledge and opportunity to explore diversity of thought, develop their own informed opinions and evaluate different points of view, thus enabling them to make a positive difference in society. Religious Studies also provides a space for misconceptions and misunderstandings about religious groups and secular worldviews to be challenged and discussed in a safe and productive manner; once again allowing our students to develop into well-rounded and tolerant young people.

• Substantive (“Know That”) knowledge is developed through the curriculum through sequenced lesson planning and shared learning objectives. The RE curriculum equips students with a strong command of knowledge surrounding the Abrahamic and Dharmic faiths, as well as non-religious worldviews and philosophical schools of thought found around the world. This is important because around 84% of people globally identify with a religious group, therefore we must ensure our students understand the beliefs and practices of the broadest cross-section of people. 

• Procedural and Disciplinary (“Know How”) Knowledge is embedded through an engaging, challenging and diverse Religious Studies curriculum that is designed to build and develop skills within our students which will enable them to succeed and thrive in their academic life. Students will spend time in lessons exploring innovative and exciting topics such as the importance of Israel and the influence of Buddhism in the secular world.  Through studying religious texts and stories, as well as their history, traditions and practices, students master the disciplines of theology, social science and philosophy and therefore gain a true understanding of scholarship within the study of Religion. 

• Cognitive Psychology principles are addressed in the Religious Studies curriculum through the regular and planned provision of independent learning so that a deeper understanding of the curriculum can be built. In Religious Studies this may be through pieces of extended writing, guided reading and analysis of quotations. Lesson activities are carefully planned to deliver the lesson objectives efficiently, and for students to meaningfully grapple with the work.  This is through the use of shared lesson planning and clear outcomes from activities in class.  Students are required to “think hard” during their lessons and student attention is carefully guided by the teacher so that lesson objectives are met effectively. In Religious Studies this is through pre-planned questions and regular assessment for learning through cold calling and whiteboard use. 

What will this look like at implementation?

Please use the links below to explore how our curriculum looks, for each year group, as a result of these guiding principles

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How can you support students’ learning from home?

When travelling with your young person, take opportunities to discuss and research religions through visiting museums, buying books, visiting places of worship or researching together online.

Introduce them to varied interpretations of religious and philosophical perspectives, documentaries, films or television shows and think about the world around them.

Access online revision resources and discuss these with your child. BBC Bitesize has great overviews of many of our KS3 topics.

Ask one of the RE teachers for book recommendations, both fiction and non-fiction.

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