Religious Education

Welcome to the Kingsmead School Religious Education Department.

Our intent is for students to have an awareness of the multi faith world around them, to learn about and from religious beliefs and to develop the questioning and critical skills needed to understand the complex world we live in

At KS3 

We use the Somerset Agreed Syllabus as our starting point – (http://www.amvsomerset.org.uk/). The Locally Agreed Syllabus adapted to the needs of our students, being a rural community in relatively monocultural Somerset it is important to give students the cultural capital they need to take their place in modern British society.

The major world religions represented by our Schemes of work are: 

There are opportunities to study philosophical arguments and Ethical theories – so pedagogical techniques that encourage questioning and freethinking (like Philosophy for Children -  P4C) techniques are used in when students start Year 7. The focus at KS3 is to give students the possibility to question – learning debating skills, research methods and formulating reasoned opinions.   This approach is supplemented by students both ‘learning from’ religion and ‘learning about’ religion. These approaches enable students to fully access the skills and understanding to access the GCSE courses. See details in RE Progress Overview Sheets.

At KS4

Figure 2 Creative learning in REHaving followed either the SC GCSE AQA course, or the full GCSE AQA course, students are able to access Level 4 courses and have a foundational understanding of Christianity and /or Islam.  This again gives students the cultural capital they need to be good citizens.  Many skills in our subject are transferable to employment- communication, research, critical thinking. (See details in RE Progress Overview Sheets) 

The non-judgmental, open approach we use in our pedagogy addresses social disadvantage and provides equal opportunities by discussing relevant ethical and philosophical issues. Pupils develop resilience as part of their journey through RE.  There are very challenging topics to discuss, respond to and evaluate. From the start of Year 7 the onus is on students to take charge of their own learning, through investigative schemes of work, groupwork and challenges.

These include:

SUMMARY OF LEARNING AT KS3 and KS4

SUMMARY OF TRIPS AND VISITS

Trip to Germany and Poland – Berlin and Auschwitz – Yearly (Year 11)

Trip to London – Buddhist temple, The Imperial War Museum and Chinatown– Yearly (Year 11)

Trip to Multi-Faith Bristol – Yearly (Years 8-9)

In addition to trips outside of school, we have good relationships with the local and regional faiths.  These include: 

Sequence of Learning in RE

This is a summary of the topics studied in Geography at Kingsmead School:

Key Stage 3

Sequence of Learning

Year 7

Year 8

Term 1

Introduction to RE, Religious Stories, Christmas Trivium,

 

Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics

Epistemology

Influential People: Martin Luther King and Gandhi

Term 2

Term 3

Pilgrimage

Deep dive into Sikhism

Term 4

Who was Jesus?

Investigation: The Amritsar massacre – the concept of martyrdom

Term 5

Weird and wonderful religion

What makes you happy?

Term 6

Year 7 cross-Humanities topic- varies from year to year but known as

‘Extreme Humanities’

Year 8 cross-Humanities topic- varies from year to year but known as

‘Extreme Humanities’

 

Key Stage 4

Sequence of Learning (RS)

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Term 1 (Sept-Oct)

Buddhist Beliefs

Christian Practices

 

Religion and life issues

Term 2 (Nov-Dec)

Religion and relationships

Religion, human rights and social justice

 

Religion and life issues

Term 3 (Jan-Feb)

Religion and relationships

Religion, human rights and social justice

 

The existence of God and revelation

Term 4 (Feb-Mar)

Christian beliefs

Buddhist practices

 

The existence of God and revelation

Term 5 (June-July)

Religion, peace and conflict

Religion, crime and punishment

 

REVISION/EXAMS

Term 6 (Apr-May)

Religion, peace and conflict

Religion, crime and punishment

 

n/a

Key Stage 4

Sequence of Learning RE Short Course

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Term 1 (Sept-Oct)

Muslim Beliefs

Christian Beliefs

RE taught through PSHCE topics

Term 2 (Nov-Dec)

Muslim Beliefs

Christian Beliefs

RE taught through PSHCE topics

Term 3 (Jan-Feb)

Religion and relationships

Revision

RE taught through PSHCE topics

Term 4 (Feb-Mar)

Religion and relationships

Revision

RE taught through PSHCE topics

Term 5 (June-July)

Religion, peace and conflict

Exam

RE taught through PSHCE topics

Term 6 (Apr-May)

Religion, peace and conflict

N/A

RE taught through PSHCE topics

Top Websites

For additional learning and revision in this subject, see these websites: 

RE and RS Progress Overviews

These are designed to outline the progression of RE based learning within each year group. They make clear the skills, understanding and knowledge within each category of our language for learning.