Religious Studies

In Religious Studies we define success as “being ready to take on the world”. Taught as an inclusive, rigorous and demanding academic subject, the specialist teachers within the department engineer critical thinking and analytical skills in our students that are essential to flourish in the modern world. Our spiralling curriculum creates opportunities for our young people to have enquiring minds and to develop their skills of dialogue, interpretation and analysis in a coherent context. When communities are ever more diverse, and debate on media platforms increasingly polarising, there is a need for strong religious and ethical literacy provision to enable students to navigate their way through modern life and contribute to a tolerant and harmonious society.

The RS department are passionate about enabling our students to articulate their own and other’s worldviews in order to support their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, and to thrive in a modern workforce where communication, cooperation and collaboration are core skills. Our GCSE and A level curriculums aim to provide the opportunity to specialise in a wide range of fields, from the political sciences, to law and medicine.

 

Department Team

Mr M. Brown - Head of Department
Mrs C. Coleman - Teacher of Religious Studies
Mr M. Tanner - Teacher of Religious Studies

 

Curriculum at a glance

Key Stage 3

Religious Studies is taught as a discrete subject to all students. CRGS follows the Essex Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education and the course we follow uses the textbooks in the series "Themes to InspiRE" along with other resources to complement the teaching. In the three years of Key Stage 3, students study expressions of faith, beliefs and teachings about meaning and purpose, and ethics and values.  
 
In the first year at the school, the introductory unit looks at religion in general – what does it mean to be religious? To do this, students examine how and why people are religious, where the world religions originated and how they are linked, look at ideas about morality, and finally, the attitudes resulting from "being religious." 

Year 8 builds on those foundations. We look at religious rituals, celebrations and beliefs, the relationship between science and religion, the purpose and meaning of life and, finally, human rights and responsibilities. 

In the final year of Key Stage 3, the course moves to an increasingly philosophical foundation by focusing on epistemology and what it means to “know”, an exploration of philosophical arguments for the belief in the existence of God and the nature of evil, as well as the ethics of and religious responses to conflict, war and peace. This final unit moves us into the beginnings of the GCSE course. 

Key Stage 4

Students can choose to study Religious Studies as a full course GCSE option. We follow the OCR exam board course which is made up of eight units, including a study of Christianity and Islam, and four units focussing on philosophy and ethics in the modern world. The study of religion forms a 2-hour paper sat at the end of Year 11, as does the four units in the study of religion, philosophy and ethics from a Christian perspective.

All students in Years 10 and 11 follow a course of personal development through Religious, Ethical and Philosophical Studies, which contains elements of Religious Studies but does not lead to a public examination. The content is based on short course ethical GCSE topics but without the exam pressure, so that there is opportunity to discuss current issues such as the euthanasia and abortion debate, and issues around the use of Artificial Intelligence and advancing medical technologies as they arise.  

Key Stage 5

The Edexcel A level Religious Studies course is followed. Year 12 and 13 students explore six units in each of the Philosophy of Religion, Ethics and Religion, and New Testament Studies sections.  Each of the three units are examined by a two-hour paper sat at the end of Year 13.
 

Enrichment and Support

A level students have the opportunity to attend lectures provided by leading academics such as Dr Peter Vardy, and opt for Philosophy enrichment lessons which focus on the Epistemological and Ethical units of the AQA Philosophy A level but without the pressure of examination.