Year 7: Students start the year with the basic RS question: What is belief? Through a mixture of discussion, debate, games, chart-making, interviews and studying art and photographs, they examine the nature of religious belief. What does it mean to be religious? What do we all believe in, whether we are religious or not? Why do we believe? On the way we cover the basics of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. This leads to group work and presentations on Founders of the Faiths, focusing on the lives and teachings of Jesus (Christianity) and Moses (Judaism). In the past students have chosen to do this as drama, radio shows, songs, game shows and even puppet shows!
Year 8:Breaking Down the Barriers looks at the barriers we have created between ourselves – attitudes towards disability, leprosy, paralysis, metal illness, racism. Through class discussion, drama, film, examining newspaper stories and creating our own newspaper of events, we describe past and present attitudes to these barriers, and explain past and present religious attitudes to them, particularly in Christianity and Hinduism (focusing on Mohandas Gandhi). We later explore the ideas and experience of Pilgrimage – a special journey to a sacred place.
Year 9: Decisions and Dilemmas looks at the process of moral decision-making. This is studied through three life-changing speeches made by towering religious figures, including Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. This leads us into a new scheme looking at faith in the modern media age: Faith in the media? Through TV programmes, films, news items, magazines, and the internet, we study the importance, impact and relevance of religion in the modern age. There is a special focus on religious imagery in the cinema, and on the way Buddhist monks used the media to help put an end to the Vietnam war. Many students have commented that this is their favourite part of the whole RS syllabus.
Key Stage 4 Curriculum
At High Arcal we follow the OCR examination board’s syllabus. The Christian Perspectives paper focuses on pressing moral issues of the day: war and peace, abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, equality, ecology. The Christianity papers covers Christian beliefs and practice: beliefs about God, celebration of festivals, divisions within Christianity, the family, rites of passage.
To meet statutory requirements for students in Key Stage 4 to study RS for at least 1 hour per week all students study the Short Course, which offers half the points of the standard Full Course GCSE. Those who opt to study the standard Full Course GCSE study a wider range of topics in greater depth, have more time to study and complete 2 pieces of coursework worth 20% of their final grade.
Post 16 opportunities and progression routes for further study
The High Arcal School/Dudley College partnership does not currently offer A Level RS. Many other colleges do. However, RS should be thought of as a subject which offers a broad range of transferable skills applicable to a wide range of other subjects and career paths. RS emphasises critical thinking skills, understanding the needs and beliefs of others, understanding the ethical arguments and moral dilemmas of our day, weighing up evidence and coming to a balanced conclusion. These are crucial skills for A Level subjects such as Critical Thinking, Philosophy, Ethics, History, Geography and vocational qualifications in the caring professions. These RS skills are also crucial for careers where difficult choices have to be weighed up and made, in dealing with people from all walks of life and where critical decision-making skills are needed.
