KS3 Religious Education
Year 7
We consider Year 7 to be in our ‘foundation’ phase, where they will cover the basics of six world religions within an over-arching social or religious theme. Lessons in this foundation phase are designed to enable Year 7 pupils to learn the processes of skill application we expect them to regularly use in RE, and to gain confidence and independence in lessons. We begin Year 7 chronologically studying the more culturally familiar Abrahamic religions before moving to more unfamiliar and therefore culturally challenging ‘Eastern’ religions. Studying in this way allows our pupils to identify patterns of belief between the related religious traditions in the world today.
Term 1
Rules (Covering Judaism and Christianity)
Term 2
Actions and consequences (Covering Islam and Sikhism)
Term 3:
What makes a religion? (Covering Hinduism and Buddhism)
Year 8
In Year 8, we consider our pupils to be working within the ‘development’ stage. They will begin their studies by exploring the nature of religion in Britain, focusing on census data, the importance of SMSC in schools, spirituality, and identity beyond labels. In later units, Year 8 will focus (although not exclusively) on the religions of Islam and Christianity, as reflected in our local community, and explore social and cultural issues as are age appropriate. The development stage is one of stretch, challenge and improvement - we expect our pupils to be able to apply relevant academic skills, and so focus on the refinement of this through reflection and collaboration.
Term 1
Religion in Britain
Term 2
Is it hard to be a Muslim?
Term 3
Is Britain Christian?
Year 9
In Year 9, pupils will begin to explore explicit ethical themes within the context of human rights, looking specifically at forms of expression and the nature of qualified, limited and absolute rights. At the end of Year 9 we consider our pupils to have entered our ‘expertise’ phase – the expectation is that they will have mastered our academic skills ready for GCSE, and that they will be ready to be taught more sophisticated and emotionally challenging issues, such as the content of our human-rights inspired medical ethics unit, as they mature.
Term 1
Religious Expression.
Term 2
Medical Ethics.