| Religious
Studies is part of the basic curriculum and is taught for
one lesson per week at this stage. The Syllabus is agreed
locally and involves us looking at aspects of the six main
world religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam,
Judaism and Sikhism. At the end of year 7 we visit the
Mandir which is a Hindu Temple at Neasden and we may also
have other trips to religious places of worship or
interest. We look at Rastafari in Year 9.
The emphasis is on learning
about and learning from religions. We do not
teach you how to join a religion or what you should do if
you are in one. Most people in the world have some
allegiance to a religion at some point in their life. In
Religious Studies you will be understanding and learning
about other people you might meet in College or the world
or see on television or read about. We sometimes learn
about religions using role-play and acting but we never
have any sort of act of worship in the classroom or teach
you how to belong to a religion.
Groupings
You will be taught
in mixed ability class sets. Religious Studies is a lesson
where you can understand and learn at a number of levels
within one lesson. We emphasise things you can see and
hear such as looking at artefacts, hearing from members of
the faith community through video, CD ROM, books or member
of that community within the classroom. We have found that
less-able students are sometimes better at Religious
Studies than some of their other subjects because of this
emphasis on the visual.
Assessment
You will have
homework each week, which will be marked according to the
College Assessment Policy. This means you will get a mark
for your standard and a mark for your effort. Our syllabus
is divided into units of work and you will have an
assessment that will be entered on your report for each
term from these tests. Your teacher will give you advice
on improving your work and as you get older you will be
given more formal targets for improvement.
NB
Under the Education
Act parents have the right to withdraw their children from
all or some of their Religious Education. We do try to be
sensitive to peoples’ religious beliefs and see the
subject as learning about rather than nurturing in any
particular faith in the hope that parents will not see a
need to withdraw. Christianity is largely taught from a
traditional Church of England standpoint but students are
always encouraged to write from and explore the viewpoint
of their own faith community if they have one. At present
no one withdraws completely from Religious Studies in the
College and we are always happy to discuss aspects of the
subject with students and parents. |