It has five key pillars:
Inclusive and Aspirational:
Lessons and adaptations allow for all students to access the curriculum and assessments are set out with a range of numerical marks allowing for all students to gain marks. Scaffolding and support in lessons and practice application means that students are well practiced with exam answer structures which maximises the amount of marks students pick up. The lessons are taught through a range of strategies to support EAL and SEND e.g. visual aids, key words, differentiated tasks. The RS curriculum follows the SACRE and ensures all students have access to the main religions. The aim is to expose all students to the main religions and provide access and learning about world religions. The curriculum exposes our diverse community to a variety of religions to ensure they become inclusive and open-minded citizens of the world. We aim to make our students religiously literate and theologically informed individuals who are equipped to navigate a diverse and interconnected world with understanding, empathy, and critical thinking. Our curriculum is comprehensive and balanced and will offer a broad and deep exploration of Christianity as the principal religion in Great Britain, whilst also ensuring substantial engagement with other principal religions and worldviews represented both locally and globally. This includes, but is not limited to, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Humanism. Students will gain a secure understanding of the core beliefs, practices, sacred texts, and significant figures within each tradition, appreciating both their unique characteristics and shared human experiences.
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy:
Introduction of glossaries and comprehension sheets. Weekly key words quizzes at GCSE. We include lessons that are comprehensive, balanced, and reich in Religious Literacy: Our curriculum will offer a broad and deep exploration of Christianity as the principal religion in Great Britain, whilst also ensuring substantial engagement with other principal religions and worldviews represented both locally and globally. This includes, but is not limited to, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Humanism. Through this exploration, we will explicitly develop students’ religious literacy by focusing on: specialised Vocabulary: Students will acquire and accurately use a wide range of subject-specific terminology (e.g., ‘theology,’ ‘revelation,’ ‘sacrament,’ ‘karma,’ ‘Dharma,’ ‘Torah,’ ‘Qur’an’); Reading Comprehension: students will engage with diverse religious texts (scriptures, commentaries, philosophical writings, ethical discussions), developing skills in interpreting complex ideas, identifying main arguments, and understanding different perspectives. Effective Communication: Students will articulate their understanding clearly and coherently, both orally and in writing, using appropriate academic language and structuring their arguments logically. This will include essay writing, structured responses, and participation in reasoned debates. For numeracy, our students will be interpreting data: Students will analyse statistical data related to religious demographics, trends in religious adherence, or the impact of religious organisations (e.g., charity donations, community outreach figures). They will understand timelines and chronology: students will engage with historical timelines of religious developments, significant figures, and the spread of religions, appreciating the sequence and duration of events.
Ambitious and Sequenced Learning:
In years 7 and 8 students cover five religions in depth (Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Islam) to gain an understanding of the world around them and tolerance of all. Also in Year 8 there is a focus on Christianity in the Themes topic which covers ‘Big questions’ and develops SMSC. SACRE requirement and the agreed syllabus is fulfilled in the curriculum. The schemes follow on and widen and deepen knowledge from KS2 in the agreed syllabus, we then baseline and follow sacred guidance, GCSE is prescribed. Our RE curriculum aims for religious disciplinary literacy by deeply exploring Christianity and other major worldviews (Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Humanism). Students will master specialised vocabulary, develop reading comprehension of diverse religious texts, and refine effective communication skills in both speaking and writing. Furthermore, we foster intellectually stimulating learning by encouraging theological and philosophical inquiry. We explicitly integrate numeracy by having students interpret data (demographics, charity figures), understand timelines and chronology, use spatial reasoning with maps, and conduct comparative analysis using quantifiable aspects of religious traditions.
Cultivating Independent Learners:
Lessons have a range of challenges such as research, application, recall, questioning, addressing misconceptions and preconceived ideas. It gives them the ability and skill to become open minded and informed about the world and people within it. We shift from basic factual recall to exploring “how” and “why” by building units around open-ended inquiry questions and encouraging student-generated questions. Learning is structured through investigative tasks where students gather, analyse, and conclude independently. We equip students with essential tools like knowledge organisers and glossaries for self-study. We explicitly teach research skills for evaluating sources and effective note-taking strategies. Learning is gradually scaffolded, moving from teacher-led to independent work through a “gradual release” model. Students are taught metacognition (thinking about their learning) to understand effective strategies, identify struggles, and plan improvements. Regular self-assessment and peer feedback opportunities promote ownership of progress, and students are guided in setting realistic learning goals. We create a safe space for debate and discussion, encouraging challenging questions and respectful differing viewpoints. Strategies like “no hands up” ensure broad By embedding these approaches, we empower our students to become confident, self-directed explorers and critical thinkers in the world of religions and worldviews.
Holistic Personal Development:
The curriculum aims to develop the whole child as a ‘global citizen’. SMSC education is a priority when thinking about development of students in RS as well as tolerance, respectful attitudes and individual liberty (including identity, belonging and diversity). Students should gain knowledge of all of the major religions and the main beliefs and practices for each. They should also have developed many skills such as application, recall, evaluation, analysis, debate and opinion. I weave Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural (SMSC) development into every unit. This means creating space for spiritual reflection on life’s big questions, fostering moral inquiry through ethical dilemmas, building social understanding through community and interfaith dialogue, and celebrating cultural expressions of diverse worldviews. Our curriculum goes beyond simply learning “what” people believe to include “how” to think critically (disciplinary knowledge) and allowing for personal “search” and reflection. This balances substantive knowledge with crucial interpretive, analytical, and evaluative skills. I ensure balanced representation of various worldviews and employ diverse pedagogies like experiential learning, creative expression, and debate. Crucially, I make explicit links across subjects (e.g., RE and History, Art, PSHE) and reinforce literacy and numeracy, demonstrating RE’s relevance and enhancing overall learning. Assessment moves beyond factual recall to measure students’ ability to analyse, evaluate, synthesise, and apply their understanding to real-world contexts, using formative assessments to gauge progress across all areas of holistic development. By integrating these elements, RE becomes a powerful subject that profoundly shapes students’ personal growth and their ability to thrive as responsible global citizens.
