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: 

• Christianity and Buddhism (Statutory in Agreed Syllabus)
• Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. 
• We also refer to Atheism and Humanism to reflect the local community.

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

Having 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:

• Visiting Thai Buddhist and Roman Catholic Christian communities in London.
• An opportunity to Visit Krakow in Poland and Auschwitz concentration camp.
• A British identity day, meeting with members of the Bristol Muslim community.

SUMMARY OF LEARNING AT KS3 and KS4

• The curriculum is planned and sequenced so that there is clear progression in knowledge, understanding, and evaluation from Year 7 into Year 11. The department is in the process of evaluating and honing the KS3 curriculum and before this, starting in 2015, re-wrote the entire KS4 curriculum to meet the demands of the new 9-1 GCSE.
• KS3 assessments are based on the 3 key skills of Knowledge, Understanding and Evaluation to equip students for GCSE.  Over the two years students are provided with a full variety of differentiated outcomes for their work – e.g. Take away Home Learning.  This ensures the individual needs of students are met through the work that they produce.
• Students build from knowledge to understanding and evaluation in KS3 assessments.  Assessment at KS3 is varied and engaging – e.g. The Amritsar Massacre work on Empathy Erosion.
• Students cover specific Ethical and Philosophical units that mesh with topic areas at KS4 – e.g. What is Real in Year 8 – looking and Platonic understanding of reality.
• Assessment at KS3 is monitored via the ‘stepping stones’ in RE.  This brackets student’s achievement into Beginning, Emerging and Mastering statements
• At KS4 students are assessed by topic and tracked via student tracker documents.
• At KS4 we follow the AQA RS assessments in the syllabus
• The department regularly updates SoL and resources.
• Students have tracking sheets in Year 7 and 8 and one tracking booklet for their whole GCSE. They record feedback and note down which skills they did well in and which still need development. This encourages them to reflect on their previous assessments with the aim of improving the next.
• Students also receive PLC and evaluation sheets for each GCSE topic to track their progress from start to end, but also to aid revision for mocks in Year 11 and for summer exams.

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: 

• Links with Bristol Muslim Cultural Society
• Sikh Gurdwara, St Georges, Bristol
• Exeter Mosque
• Forest School Buddhists in Backdown Hills
• Local Vicar of St Andrew’s Wiveliscombe

Sequence of Learning in RE

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

Top Websites

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

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zb48q6f
• https://request.org.uk/
• https://clearvision.education/

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.