Religious Studies

About Religious Studies

In Year 7 Religious Studies is taught as part of the Integrated Curriculum and then in Year 8 pupils are taught in dedicated Religious Studies classes. Year 8 topics of study include:

• In a Time and a Place – the religious situation of Palestine in Jesus’ day, different religious groups, places of worship and places Jesus visited.
• Making History – importance of history in families, background to the establishment of Christianity in Britain with an emphasis on Wales
• A Sense of Vocation – the way in which people respond to God’s call, Biblical examples of vocation and Mary
• A Lifetime’s Work – the work of the Holy Spirit and The Sacrament of Confirmation.
• Back to the Future – Advent, John the Baptist, awareness of the ‘coming’ and it’s implications.

Students also have the opportunity to explore what divides and unites people and study:

• A place for everyone – the wonder of being human, and Jesus invitation to all to live life to the full
• A Sacred place – about how people show respect and care for the world, and how the Church’s belief that people are called to work with God in caring for the world.
• A place of hopes and dreams – the kind of world people would like to live in, and how Jesus used parables to teach people about the Kingdom of God
• A place for saints – why it is so important to be known by name, and why the Church names ‘saints’ and what it means to be a ‘saint’.

Pupils also undertake a research project on Judaism, where they focus on an area of Jewish belief.  This work is self and peer assessed.  Students are able to present their work as a PowerPoint if they wish.

In Year 9, pupils study topics including:

• To be a Pilgrim – places of pilgrimage, reasons to go.  Religious imagery of pilgrimage, life as a pilgrimage, the Ten Commandments & Jesus’ commandments.
• Time Challenges – How people deal with change and developments, main changes within the Catholic Church since the sixteenth century.
• Prayer Challenges – people’s need for space and time to develop relationships, organisation of the liturgical year, variety of styles of prayer.
• Hope Challenges – the importance of hope for human life, realisation that Advent and Christmas are the Church’s seasons of hope and its fulfilment.
• The Common Good – the challenge to balance personal needs and the common good, and how Jesus’ teaching challenges Christians to work for the common good. The power of the Holy Spirit and authority of the Church
• Living Commitment – Marriage, Holy Orders. The importance of having a vision for life, and its challenge and influence in the world today

All pupils at the school study the WJEC GCSE Religious Studies course in Years 10 and 11. Topics of study include:

• Beliefs, teachings and practices of the Catholic faith
• How Catholic belief affects the way in which people live their lives
• How Catholics worship
• Challenges to faith
• Investigating the ‘big’ questions
• Evaluating the importance of belief and faith
• How Christianity is built on the teaching of the Gospels

In Year 10 pupils are entered for the following options – i) Christianity Through the Gospels, ii) Roman Catholic Christianity.

Pupils explore why the Gospels were written and what the Evangelists aimed to do in their writing and learners also look at the main events in the life of Christ and how these are celebrated and remembered today by Christians.

Pupils also begin to explore Roman Catholicism 1.  This paper and course follows the same structure as the one studied this year. Pupils begin by studying the Beliefs, Teachings and Sources of the Catholic Church.

In Year 11 pupils build on the course of study followed in Year 10.  Their area of learning is ‘Christianity Through the Gospels’. Pupils explore why the Gospels were written and what the Evangelists aimed to do in their writing. Learners also look at the main events in the life of Christ and how these are celebrated and remembered today by Christians.

Structured revision is undertaken in classes in the form of tests and homework questions based on examination questions, in readiness for the GCSE exam at the end of Year 11.