Religious Education at The Long Eaton School is about much more than learning facts about different religions; it is about every aspect of our lives and how we develop our view of the world around us. All our students from Year 7 to 9 study Religious Education, covering a wide variety of religious, philosophical and ethical topics, where students are encouraged to develop their own conclusions.
In helping our students engage with the issues that Religious Education raises, we use a variety of different strategies. We use lots of discussion, video clips, role-play, ICT and games in our lessons, as well as taking students on trips and welcoming guest speakers to help students to empathise with the views of others and develop clarity and confidence in their own opinion.
Key Stage 3:
- Life after death not sacred spaces.
Key Stage 4:
Religious Education is learnt about in registration periods and assemblies, as part of the Student Development curriculum. RE GCSE students look at a range of religious, philosophical, and ethical issues from Christian, Muslim and non-religious views and are encouraged to develop their own opinion about these. The course focuses on a variety of topics such as Crime and Punishment to Human Rights.
Year 7
Students look at what it means to be part of The Long Eaton School and explore a variety of religious beliefs from Monotheistic religions to Eastern religions. In the Autumn term, we learn about the person of Muhammad and key Muslim beliefs, encouraging open dialogue to address misconceptions about this world faith. In the Spring term we study a variety of topics such as The Environment, Art and Religion, and Inspirational Figures. These topics focus on building in the religious knowledge of Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism that we have studied in the Autumn term. For example, in Art and Religion we study Rangoli patterns (Hinduism), where we take part in a project called “Spirited Arts” in which students all over the UK explore a given theme and create personal artwork as part of a national competition. In the final term, we explore inspirational people of faith such as Jesus, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Stormzy and considering how they have used their faith to inspire others and bring about social justice in the past as well as today.
Year 8
In Year 8 we begin by examining Sikhism and Buddhism, these two Eastern religions give students a more philosophical view of religion. In the Spring term we focus on the topics of Religion and the Media, asking our students to decide how biased the media’s reporting can be and how it can influences the publics belief on a massive scale. Then we examine a variety of views on Life after Death, looking into religious and non-religious views. In the Autumn term we study a topic called Prejudice and Discrimination, looking into misconceptions and stereotypes of various groups such as gender inequality to racism.
Year 9
In Year 9 we begin by exploring the topic of Human Rights and how difficult it is for some people in the world to have them. Then we study the religion of Judaism. In the Spring term we start to investigate Morality and Ethics, learning about both Christian and non-religious ethical theories before applying them to issues of justice and equality. This links with Judaism as we then study the Holocaust, whilst History are teaching students about WW2. In the Summer term we start to examine some of the arguments Christian philosophers have developed to prove the existence of God and how these have been challenged by Atheists. The last topic is about the Problem of Evil and how far the world suffers.
Year 10
In Year 10, students build on the knowledge through an in depth study of the main theological beliefs of both Christianity and Islam, the beliefs and practices. Students then focus on how these beliefs are demonstrated through Worship and Practice. Christian practices explores contemporary worship and prayer, the role of both the local church as well as contrasting Christian views on evangelism and missionary work. The Islam unit focuses on the 5 Pillars as well as an exploration of the actual meaning of Jihad.
This is then followed by the study of the moral and philosophical issues around life and death from a Christian perspective, considering the meaning of the sanctity of life, abortion, euthanasia as well as a the differing views of both science and faith to the origins of the universe and humanity. They will also focus on the study of Peace and Conflict around the world, and how far peace could be achieved. This includes a consideration of the Islamic beliefs in Just War and Holy War and how these beliefs can be applied in a world that has nuclear weapons and terrorist attacks.
Year 11
The course culminates with another ethical unit exploring issues around Crime and Punishment as well as the topic of Human rights. Crime and Punishment focuses on questions such as is the death penalty ethical? Whereas Human Rights is about a variety of issues such as racism, human trafficking and social justice.
The focus of is then on consolidation of knowledge and exam technique. The GCSE exam content is revisited with a particular focus on the ability to use this to answer exam questions. Students learn skills so that they are able to write essays that are able to discuss and evaluate a range of beliefs, attitudes and practises.
GCSE (Exam Board: AQA SPEC A)
Paper 1: Religions: Christianity & Islam : (1hour 45 mins 50%)
Paper 2: Thematic Studies: Human Rights, Crime and Punishment, Religion and Life, Peace and Conflict (1 hour 45 mins 50%)
Useful Links
BBC: Religions
BBC: A to Z of Religions and Beliefs (an animated guide)
NATRE: Spirited Arts Competition
AQA | GCSE | Religious Studies A | Specification at a glance
BBC Bitesize: Religious Studies
