Religious Education

Religious Education at Alder Community High School is taught according to the Tameside Agreed Syllabus. Religious Education is not designed to indoctrinate students to a particular religion or belief. It involves learning about different faiths, beliefs and practices and how this might influence a chosen lifestyle. It allows students to learn how to think and talk about their own beliefs and values and analyse and evaluate the responses of other people to important moral issues with a religious dimension.

Our schemes of work and lesson plans seek to ensure that students explore the beliefs and practices of World Faiths as well as their own responses to questions about the meaning and purpose of life. Such lessons are planned to reflect the fact that religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, whilst taking into account the teachings and practices of the other principal religions represented in the country.

Our aim within the department is for students to learn both about religion and from religion:

Learning about religion includes enquiry into, and investigation of, the nature of religion. It focuses on beliefs, teachings and sources, practices and ways of life and forms of expression. It also includes identifying and understanding ultimate questions and ethical issues.

Learning from religion is concerned with developing pupils’ reflection on, and response to, their own experiences and learning about religion. It develops pupils’ skills of application and evaluation of what they learn about religion, particularly questions of identity and belonging, meaning, purpose, truth, values and commitment, and communicating their response.

As Religious Education is a legal requirement up to leaving school, at Key Stage 4 all students are entered for the Edexcel Short Course GCSE. This course seeks to teach a number of moral and ethical issues from both a religious and personal stand point. The two religions focused on are Christianity and Judaism, though equal time is given to developing a students own perspective. If a student wishes to, they can opt to take the other half of the course and so complete a full GCSE in the subject. This unit is taught in a similar fashion, though from a Christian and Muslim perspective.

Religious Education Course Information

Year 7

Students study Judaism in the Autumn Term, Christianity in the Spring Term and Sikhism in the Summer Term. Each unit builds on that which has been learned at Key Stage 2, encouraging tolerance and understanding for those of a different faith or background from oneself. Students study the history, background and features of each of these faiths, learning not only about them but also from them.

Year 8

Students study Christianity in the Autumn Term, Buddhism in the Spring Term and Islam and Hinduism in the Summer Term. Each unit looks at the beliefs of each community and how those beliefs are put into practice. Students relate what they have learned about to their own lives and the influences, religious or otherwise, that they may have.

Year 9

In Year 9 students focus on moral and contemporary issues. In the Autumn Term they study war and peace and the environment. In the Spring Term they study prejudice and discrimination and animal rights. In the Summer Term students begin their Short Course GCSE, focusing on the first unit, Believing in God. Throughout the year students are encouraged to develop their own opinions on each topic, to listen to the views of others and to express themselves in a mature and focused way. At least two religions are studied in each unit and students are encouraged to comment on any similarities and/or differences with their own point of view.

Year 10 Short Course GCSE

Students study units towards the Short Course GCSE. In the Autumn Term they study Matters of Life and Death, in the Spring Term a coursework unit on Religion and the Media and in the Summer Term Marriage and the Family. Each unit is studied from a students own point of view as well as from a Christian and Jewish point of view.

Year 10 Full Course GCSE

Students study units towards the Full Course GCSE. In the Autumn Term they study Crime and Punishment, in the Spring Term Religion and Social Responsibility and in the Summer Term the Environment. Each unit is studied from a students own point of view as well as from a Christian and Muslim point of view.

Year 11 Short Course GCSE

Students study units towards the Short Course GCSE. In the Autumn Term they study Religion and Social Harmony, and in the Spring Term there should be ample time for revision of each previous unit. Each unit is studied from a students own point of view as well as from a Christian and Jewish point of view.

Year 11 Full Course GCSE

Students study units towards the Full Course GCSE. In the Autumn Term they study a coursework unit on Religion and Medical Ethics and in the Spring Term a unit on Religion, War and Peace. Each unit is studied from a students own point of view as well as from a Christian and Muslim point of view.