Religious Education - What You Will Learn

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3 Religious Education is taught 1 period (1 hour) a week.

The following page gives details about what pupils will learn at Key Stage 3 from Year 7 to Year 9. For Key Stage 4 information click on the Key Stage 4 image in the top right corner.

The Department for Education and Skills Standards website contains full information on the scheme of work for Key Stage 3 Religious Education and outlines the competencies needed to achieve each national curriculum level.

The units are not statutory and the Religious Education department will decide it's own structure of work based on this material:

Year 7

Aims

• To learn about the beliefs of others.
• To develop tolerance of those around us.
• To recognise the role of Jesus and other key figures in the formation of Christianity.
• To recognise and be familiar with the structures, content, and importance of the Gospels and other Holy Books.
• Pupils should be able to identify meanings given in ritual actions of worship and observance and be aware of the feelings and attitudes expressed.
• To identify the ritual behind baptism and understand its significance to Christianity.
• To understand the use of symbolism within religion.
• To explore the concept of resurrection.

Sources

• Jesus: A New Approach -  Kevin O' Donnell
• Sikhism -  Sue Penney
• Skills in Religious Studies -  Fageant and Mercier
• Stories of Jesus' Teaching - Horton
• Seeking Religions - J.F. Aylett and Holden Storey
• The Gospel Story of Jesus - Jan Thompson

• This is Christianity 1 - Michael Keene

Term 1

Introduction

• First day in a new school
• Feelings of pupils to

- other pupils

- teachers

- school

- personal profile

• What is Religion?  Why study?
• Evidence of Religion around us.
• Understanding religious symbols.
• Signs Around us – homework
• Everyday Symbols – homework
• Ways of Seeing
• Symbolism Assessment
• The legend of St. George - symbolism

Sikhism

• Life of the founder - Guru Nanak.
• The Ten Gurus
• The 5 K's and the Khalsa
• The Guru Granth Sahib - include the significance of holy books for believers.
• The Gurdwara - include the importance of a place of meeting for worshippers.
• Important Sikh ceremonies

- birth and naming

- marriage and death                          

• Sikhism in Britain

- The benefits to British society.

- Problems encountered eg. Crash helmets v. turban.  Racism, prejudice met.

• Assessment

Term Two

The Founder of Christianity - Jesus

• Examining the evidence - Did Jesus exist?
• What are the Gospels?
• When and where was Jesus born?
• Baptism

- John the Baptist

- Baptism of Jesus

- Infant / Adult baptism

• Temptations of Jesus.
• Disciples

- The choosing of

- The qualities of

- How his friends let him down?

• Judas' betrayal
• Peter's Denial
• The Christian festival of Easter
• How celebrated?
• The importance of assessment

Term Three

The Last Week

• Entry into Jerusalem - Pilgrimage

• Last Supper - Holy Communion

• The arrest of Jesus - link to Judas' betrayal.

• The Trials of Jesus

- Jewish Sanhedrin

- Roman

• Crucifixion - Where? Why?

• Resurrection

• Ascension

• What went wrong, why did he die?  The opposition he met.  What did he say and do?

- Paralysed man

- The Sabbath

- The Cleansing of the Temple

- The healing of the leper

- The woman with haemorrhages

• End of year exam

Year 8

Aims

• To enable pupils to form objective opinions about the value of religious belief both in their own lives and in the lives of others.
• To enable pupils to give accounts of the main Christian and Hindu beliefs.
• To be aware of the figurative nature of language in religious belief.
• To be aware of the diversity of religion.
• To explore the concept of God and the Trinity.
• To understand key concepts which underpin Hindu beliefs.
• To understand abstract concepts eg. Love, forgiveness etc.

Sources

• New Steps in Religious Education 3 - Michael Keane
• Hinduism - Sue Penney
• Seeking Religions - J.F. Aylett
• Gospel Story of Jesus - Jan Thompson
• Video no. 53 - " Taking Issue"
• All About Living 1 - Linda Smith
• This is Christianity 1 and 2 - Michael Keane
• The Bible and Christian Belief p.56 & 57
• Understanding Christianity 2  - Sue Penney
• Key Christian Beliefs - Chris Wright

Term One

1. God and the Trinity                                                                    

• “Who/ What is God?
• Brahman                              
• The Trinity
• Trimurti

2. God the Father

• The Family, the qualities of a mother and father
• Prodigal Son
• Creator - creation according to Genesis.
• Creation Stories .
• Evolution v. Creation
• The environment

3. God the Son

• Birth of Jesus, concept of incarnation, refer to Hinduism.
• Christmas stamp

Term Two

God the Son continued

• The things that Jesus did, and said - i.e. Miracles,
• Do miracles happen today? Examples of miracles from New Testament and today.
• Miracle baby
• Jesus' attitude to the outsider/outcast  - The leper
  - Today, " Mean Streets"
  - Zacchaeus
  - The Centurion's Servan

• What Jesus said about wealth
  - The rich young man

• Contrast with todays materialism
• "Who do men say I am?"
• The Transfiguration

Term Three

Hinduism

• Through the eyes of Hindu children video
• Ganesha
• More Hindu gods
• Main Hindu teachings
  - Reincarnation
  - Caste system

• How Hindus worship?
  - In the home - Puja
  - At the temple

• Hindu Festivals
  - Holi
  - Divali
  - Arti ceremony

Assessment                             

• God the Holy Spirit
  - Introduce idea of God in action
  - How the H.S. changed people's lives
  - Kriss Akabusi
  - Slum Doctors
  - Power to change

• The Good Samaritan
  - Parable play
  - Modern Samaritans
  - Mother Teresa
  - Charities                  

• Decision Making
  - Right and wrong behaviour
  - The way people behave.

Year 9

Aims

• To create attitudes conducive to an open- minded exploration of other religious traditions and beliefs.
• To promote a greater understanding and appreciation of members of other faiths.
• To explore and understand the beginnings of Christianity and how the early Church grew and developed.
• Pupils should have an understanding of how diverse the Christian Church is.
• Pupils should understand that Jesus' teachings are relevant in today's society.
• To have knowledge of the life of the founder of Buddhism.
• Pupils should understand the teachings of Buddhism.

Sources

• New Steps in Religious Studies - Michael Keane
• All About Living 1 - Linda Smith
• Buddhism - Sue Penney
• Buddhism for Today -  Chris Wright
• Key Christian Beliefs - Chris Wright
• Quest video
• Islam – Sue Penney
• Islam for today – Angela Wood
• This is islam

Term One

Islam

• Introduction – Islamic beliefs
• Sunni and Shi’ah Muslims
• Life of Muhammed
• The Mosque
• The Qur’an
• The Five Pillars of Wisdom, the shadadah, salah, zakah, sawm, hajj
• Women in Islam
• Assessment

Term Two

Buddhism

• The Early life of Siddharta Gautama.
• The Dhamma
  - The three refugees
  - The three marks of life
  - The four noble truths
  - The eight fold path

• Monks and Nuns - The Sangha
• The five precepts
• How Buddhists worship -  including meditation, the Vihara
• Assessment

Term Three

The Contemporary World

• Who am I - What is the real you, cloning, genetic engineering.
• You are amazing, idea of treating your body as a temple
• Anorexia
• Right and wrong
• Bullying
• What is evil?
• The Holocaust.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• Good overcomes evil.
• The importance of the Bible as a guide to life.
• Key Christian principals
  - Love
  - Forgiveness

End of year exam

Key Stage 4 (Non-GCSE)

Aims and Objectives

• To enable students to build on their existing knowledge of Christianity and other world religions.
• To compare the impact of religions to contemporary issues.
• To promote a tolerance and understanding of other people's beliefs.
• To gain a deeper awareness of the meaning of concepts like 'love' and that these may demand a caring relationship within the family and the community at large.
• Pupils should explain ways in which religious believers apply moral principles to particular issues.
• Pupils should be able to recognise the emotions, attitudes and values involved in relationships.
• Pupils should understand the importance of harmony and co-operation in all human relationships and how religious teaching engenders this concept.
• Pupils should be familiar with concepts of personal relationships such as compassion, reconciliation and to be aware of this within religious teachings.
• Pupils should recognise the possible role of religion with respect to their own and to other peoples understanding, attitudes and motivation.

Resources

• Contemporary Moral Issues by Joe Jenkins
• Moral Issues in Six Religions by Owen Cole.
• Things that Matter by David Simmonds.
• Christianity and Social Issues by Michael Keane.
• All About Living book 1 by Linda Smith
• Introducing Moral Issues by Joe Jenkins
• Key Christian Beliefs by Chris Wright
• What is Christianity 3
• This scheme of work is based on the AQA GCSE short course. Students who take this course will on completion of Year11, have the opportunity to achieve 6 Entry Award certificates.

Year 10

Unit One - All About Living

• Introduction - To understand that we are individuals and unique.  Discuss and identify different issues to be tackled within the course.
• Influences on us, e.g. the environment in which we live, our up bringing, experiences.  "What shapes us?"
• Judging by appearances
• Stereotypical attitudes

Unit Two - Prejudice and Discrimination

• Causes of racism
• Why are people prejudiced, why do people discriminate?
• Holocaust
• Race Relation Acts
• Apartheid
• Prejudice and discrimination unit
• Refugees
• Prejudice and discrimination NPRA Unit

Unit Three – Gender Issues

• Sex stereotypes     
• Women's Rights
• Role of men and women.
• How the media portray women?
  - Pornography
  - Page three
  - How rape is viewed?

• Arguments for and against the ordination of women priest.
• Attitudes to women in New Testament times.
• Attitude to women NPRA Unit
• Women’s rights
• Domestic Violence

Unit Four - Relationships

• The different kinds of relationships people have
  - parents
  - friends
  - boy, girl
  - marriage

• Qualities needed to form relationships.
• Building bridges - friendship - reconciliation
• Decision making activities on responsibility.
• Qualities of a friend

Unit Five - Love v. Sex

• What is love?
• Christian / sacrificial love.
• The Good Samaritan
• Contraception - the R.C. view.
• Consequences of sexual behaviour
  – Teenage pregnancy
  - One-parent families
  - STD's   

• Abortion NPRA Unit
  - When does life begin?
  - Arguments for and against.
  - Christian response.

• Marriage
• Divorce

Unit Six - AIDS

• What is HIV?
• What is AIDS?
• Christian response

Year 11

Unit Seven – Matters of Death

• What happens at death
• Heaven and Hell
• Reincarnation
• Euthanasia NPRA Unit
  - The Sanctity of Life.
  - Arguments for and against Euthanasia.
  - Voluntary and Involuntary Euthanasia.
  - Christian view
  - Why Euthanasia is forbidden in Islam?

Unit Eight - Cruelty to Children

• Children's Rights
• Child Abuse - NSPCC. In Britain
• World wide - Sewer children of Bogota
  - Child exploitation
  - Amnesty international

Unit Nine - Homelessness

• The bag lady
• Why do people become homeless?
• Solutions
• Young homeless

Unit Ten -  Crime

• Reasons why people commit crimes?
• Views on punishment
• Capital punishment
• Arguments for and against.
• Christian views.
• Crime and Punishment NPRA Unit

GCSE FULL COURSE

Those that follow this course should achieve a full GCSE on completion of Year 11.

Specification B

Module One – One hour 45 minute exam on completion of year 10

Section A - Thinking about God

• The existence of God
• Arguments for and against
• Origins of the Universe
• Religious experience and revelation
• Problem of suffering and evil
• The Nature of God

Section B – Thinking about Morality

• Ways of making moral decisions
• Abortion
• Relationships- sex, marriage and divorce
• World Poverty
• War and Peace
• The natural world

Module 4 – one hour 45 minute exam on completion of year 11

Section A – The nature of God

• What is spirituality?
• What is truth?
• Claims to Truth
• Ways of expressing spirituality
• Voluntary organizations
• Membership of a faith community

Section B - Religious responses to contemporary issues

• Matters of life, care for the elderly, cloning and genetic engineering
• Matters of death, euthanasia, reincarnation
• Drug abuse
• Media and technology
• Crime and Punishment
• Rich and poor in society

GCSE SHORT COURSE

Those who follow this course should achieve half a GCSE on completion of year11

Module 2 – one hour 45 minute exam. One question from each section

Section A –  Christian Ethics

• What Christians mean by love
• Different types of love
• Love for enemies
• The Good Samaritan
• Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness
• Healing of paralysed man
• Prodigal Son

Section B – Question of meaning

• Does god exist?
• Cosmological argument
• Design argument
• Buddhist view on God
• Problem of suffering
• Life after death
• Heaven and Hell
• Reincarnation

Section C – Life Issues

• Sanctity of life
• Quality of life
• Abortion
• War and peace
• Prejudice

Section D – Planet earth

• Creation stories
• Creation v. evolution
• Attitude to animals
• Animal testing
• Hunting debate
• Pollution
• Conservation

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