Religious Education

What is our overarching curriculum intent and what do we intend students leave Bridgemary School with?

We intend that our curriculum supports our Trust ambition of ‘achieving more together’.  We do this by delivering a curriculum designed to impart a broad range of knowledge that will engage students within the topic and inspire them to become lifelong learners. Students will develop an intellectual curiosity around religion and the differences in religion and culture around the world. Students will develop an understanding of how there are similarities between different religions as well as differences. Students will also consider questions around morality and they will look at some of the key questions and issues that affect the everyday lives of people around the world.

Our curriculum is built around a spiral model, which will allow students to develop and build on their knowledge over time. This will allow students to form a basis of core knowledge which they can use as a basis for future study. Facilitating knowledge will allow students to place their core knowledge in context as well as be able to apply that knowledge to the world around them. Procedural knowledge will give the students the skills they require in order to excel in the subject. The curriculum is designed to prepare students for a lifelong learning journey, in which they will become tolerant, informed and active participants in everyday life.  

What is the structural intent of the subject curriculum, & how is it sequenced so that students know and remember more?

The curriculum across all subjects is carefully sequenced so that prior core declarative and procedural knowledge is built upon, with continual opportunities for core knowledge to be interleaved throughout both key stages so that students know more, remember more and can apply that knowledge in a range of contexts.  Facilitating knowledge adds important local, national, and global context to core knowledge, and our curriculum intends to provide a richness and diversity that enables our students to experience learning in real life contexts.

How do any school values and focuses influence or feed through the curriculum?

The school curriculum is built on 4 aims to ensure our students receive and are able to access it fully, those being:

• Reading and comprehension that aims to ensure all students leave with a reading age at least equivalent to their chronological age
• Our school ethos of Be Kind, Work Hard, Be the Best Version of Yourself
• A deepening understanding of core and facilitating knowledge that enables students to know and remember more
• A wide appreciation of the world that we live in, and the celebration of the diversity this brings

In Religious Education we support these aims by giving students the opportunity to explore ideas in a wide range of contexts and engage with many different sources of information encouraging them to develop their literacy skills. Religious Education will help students to understand how to treat others, as well as explore the beliefs that helped to shape the schools ethosl. Using core and facilitating knowledge, being supported by regular knowledge checks, and applying the knowledge to subject specific examples will support students to know and remember more. Department pedagogy uses research driven methods in order to support knowledge retention, as well as develop student understanding of that knowledge so that they can apply it to a real world context.

What is our intent to assess how well students access the curriculum and how the school intends to adapt the curriculum to close gaps in knowledge?

To ensure any gaps in prior or new knowledge are quickly identified, we check progress frequently through a range of assessment opportunities, from lesson-by-lesson declarative knowledge tests, end of topic tests that assess knowledge retention and application, to more cumulative common assessments that assess students’ ability to remember and apply knowledge in a range of contexts.  The information from these assessments are used to adapt the curriculums intending to quickly close gaps in knowledge and keep students on track to achieve at our ambitious academic flightpaths.

The curriculum we intend to deliver to students at each Key Stage:

At KS3 students learn about and compare aspects of multiple religions. This allows them to develop their understanding of the ways in which different religions are similar and different. Students look at thematic aspects of Religious Education as well, looking at aspects of worship, rights of passage, ceremony, prayer and pilgrimage amongst many others. Alongside this, students also look at and compare different beliefs around morality, as well as understanding around modern world issues.  

At KS4 students build on the knowledge that they have acquired throughout KS3. Students will be able to compare and contrast beliefs around worship, and be able to apply religious belief and understanding to real world examples. Students will be able to form arguments which consider multiple viewpoints, and will be able to explain why different people gave contrasting views and beliefs.  

How does the co-curriculum enhance the curriculum?

Students will be able to use their knowledge gained in Religious Studies to support their learning across the entire curriculum as well as develop their understanding of the world around them. The curriculum will help to highlight real world issues, and give students the opportunity to develop well formed and supported opinions. Throughout their studies, students will have the opportunity to visit religious sites in the local area, and engage with the local community in community projects.