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Religious Education

At Holte School RE is part of the Humanities faculty, where it aims to encourage students to have a high level of interest in religious, ethical and contemporary issues in a spirit of open enquiry, tolerance and respect for others as well as encourages students to develop the capacity to reflect on themselves, their experiences, their relationships and the world around them. Religious Education at Holte School is not just about learning facts and figures – anyone can do that on their own. Among other things studying Religious Education also includes:

• understanding where peoples’ beliefs come from
• understanding why people view the world differently
• examining the fundamental questions of life
• weighing up different beliefs, opinions, and experiences
• working out your own views about how to live your life
• relating the beliefs, values, and experiences of others to your own experience of life
• encouraging students to make their own personal responses to spiritual and moral issues about life
• Encouraging students to use empathy in order to enter creatively into the lifestyles and cultures of the different believers of the world religions

Religious Education makes a distinctive contribution to pupils’ learning, enabling them to reflect upon themselves as a whole person and also other people in society. The RE department aims to encourage students to have a high level of interest in religion and moral issues in a spirit of open enquiry, tolerance and respect for others as well as encourages students to develop the capacity to reflect on themselves, their experiences, their relationships and the world around them. 

RE is making excellent contribution towards students’ spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development by implementing different elements of SMSC in SOW’s and also incorporating literacy and mathematics in all RE lessons.

Staffing

Head of Department: Mr Khalid Mahmood

2nd in Department: Dr Sultan Farouk 

Ms S Asghar, Miss K Fatima, Miss T Pervaiz , Ms Z Ul-Haq

Key Stage 3

All students follow the curriculum laid down in the Birmingham’s Agreed Syllabus. This syllabus implements the requirements of The Education Act 1988 which promotes the ‘spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical’ development of pupils and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

The content of the Birmingham’s Agreed Syllabus reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principle religions represented in the UK / local community, including the secular approaches (Atheism and Humanism).

Key Stage 4

All pupils continue to study the core RE Curriculum through Key stage 4 and some pupils opt to study this as a GCSE option, too.

In year 10 optional full GCSE RE pupils will continue the GCSE new specification (9-1) which is the study of two religions (Christianity and Islam). This specification will provide pupils an opportunity of having a 75% primary religion and 25% secondary religion of their choice.

AT KS4, all pupils who opt for GCSE RE are entered for Pearson Edexcel GCSE full course Specification A (9-1) ‘Faith and Practice in the 21st Century. The syllabus develops students’ prior knowledge whilst offering them new challenges and concepts. There will be three papers for GCSE religious studies. Pupils study two religions Christianity and Islam with 75:25 and 25:75 options.

The following units are covered at KS4 for year 10 specification (9-1):

Paper 1: Area of Study 1 — Study of Religion – Students study the content areas which are based upon their chosen religion either Christianity or Islam:

• Sources of Wisdom and Authority
• Forms of Expression and Ways of Life

Paper 3: Area of Study 3 — Philosophy and Ethics – Students study the content areas based upon their chosen religion:

• Religious Teachings on Relationships and Families in the 21st Century
• Arguments For the Existence of God

The following units are covered at KS4 for year 11 new specifications (9-1):

Paper 1: Area of Study 1 and 2 — Study of Religion: Students study the content areas based upon their chosen religion either Islam or Christianity:

• Beliefs and teachings
• Practices

Revision:  Paper 1, 2 and 3:

• All year 11 pupils will be revising for all three GCSE papers by developing examination techniques and carrying out practise exam questions.

RE Curriculum for Year 10-13 pupils who do not study GCSE RE is taught during our SMSC days. All pupils engage in a range of RE and Philosophical topics to ensure that the RE curriculum is still central to all pupils learning whilst at Holte. The content taught across the school is outlined below:

Year 9 – Philosophy

Year 10 – Religious Ethics

Year 11 – Beliefs, practices & sources of wisdom & authority

Year 12 – Religion, beliefs practices & teachings

Year 13 – Philosophy of religion

Key Stage 5 GCE A Level Religious Studies

At KS5 GCE Students follow A Level OCR – H573B Specification. This qualification is designed to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of religious beliefs and teachings, as well as the disciplines of ethics and philosophy of religion. Student will develop their skills of critical analysis in order to construct balanced, informed arguments and responses to religious, philosophical and ethical issues. New A Levels will be fully linear so assessment of a student’s knowledge and understanding of the whole course takes place at the end of two years of study. There will be three papers of two hours each altogether for A Level Religious Studies covering both year 1 and year 2 specifications.

A Level specification September 2016

Year 1 A Level Religious Studies:

• Philosophy of Religion (01)
• Religion and Ethics (02)
• Developments in Islamic Thought (04)

Year 2 A Level Religious Studies:

• Philosophy of Religion (01)
• Religion and Ethics (02)
• Developments in Islamic Thought (04)

Homework policy

RE Homework is given as an extension of pupils’ learning and therefore its completion is important. Homework is set regularly by all RE teachers and pupils are required to record the detail of homework in their planners. Pupils can also send their homework via email to the relevant member of staff. At KS3 homework is set once in a fortnight and at KS4 at least twice fortnightly. Additional homework can be set at the discretion of the teacher. For KS5 homework is usually writing essays and completion of assignments on topics covered.

In addition to this, RE also plan cross-curriculum homework tasks linked with History, Geography, English and PE through the year. The first is a focus on the Local Area for Year 7 in term 1.

Additional reading, websites, activities

There are many Religious Education websites and books available for pupils to increase their knowledge of the topics we are studying. We would encourage pupils to read newspapers, watch the news and different television programmes on a regular basis to develop their awareness of different contemporary issues concerning the society we live in today. We always encourage pupils to take independence for their own learning in and outside of the classroom. RE department has its own collection of DVD library on different topics, ethical issues and dilemmas. Pupils have access to a large selection of books in the school library as well. Other useful websites include:

For year 7 and 8 the BBC Bitesize website is useful for some of the topics we cover: 

For year 9 and GCSE useful websites:

A Level useful websites:

Contextual references:

Aristotle, Physics II.3 and Metaphysics V.2, Annas, J. (1998) An Introduction to Plato’s Republic, Oxford University Press, Chapters 9 and 10, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2004, rev.2013), Plato, http://plato. stanford.edu/entries/plato/, Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Summa Theologica I-II (93–95), Situation Ethics The New Morality, Lings, M. (1988) Muhammad: His life based on the earliest sources, Hallaq, W. (2009)

An Introduction to Islamic Law, Cambridge University Press, Part 1, Ghazali, A.H.M. & Watt. M. (1995)

The Faith and Practice of al-Ghazali: al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, Oneworld, Book 1.

Reading and Resource list for A Level Religious Studies

• Oxford A level Religious Studies for OCR Christianity, Philosophy and Ethics AS and Year 1 by Libby Ahluwalia and Robert Bowie
• Oxford A level Religious Studies for OCR Christianity, Philosophy and Ethics AS and Year 2 by Libby Ahluwalia and Robert Bowie
• A students approach to world Religions- Islam by Victor W. Watton

• OCR Philosophy and Ethics by Ina Taylor, Chris Eyre and Richard Knight
• Understanding Religious Ethics by Richard Wright- A complete guide for OCR AS Ethics
• As and A2 Philosophy of Religion and Religious Ethics Study Guide  Robert A. Bowie
• A New introduction to Islam second edition by Daniel W Brown
• The life of Muhammad by Tahia Al-Ismail
• Muhammad prophet and Statesman W. Montgomery
• OCR Philosophy and Ethics by Chris Eyre, Richard Knight and Graeme Rowe
• Understanding Religious Ethics by Richard Wright- A complete guide for OCR A2 Ethics
• A New introduction to Islam second edition by Daniel W Brown

Extra-Curricular Activities:

• GCSE after-school and lunchtime revision classes
• Easter revision classes
• A Level revision classes

Towards the end of each academic year, revision classes are scheduled for all examination groups at KS4 and KS5. Letters will be sent to parents requesting permission for pupils to attend additional classes or participating in excursions or educational visits.