Religious Education

STATEMENT OF INTENT

The principal aim of RE is to engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address. As a result, pupils can develop their understanding and skills needed to evaluate and critique varied responses to these questions, as well as develop their own responses

CURRICULUM AIMS

The Lord Derby Academy Religious Education curriculum aims to engage pupils in detailed and engaging enquiries based around significant human questions; questions that are largely explored through religion and worldviews. As a result, our pupils will be able to develop their own knowledge and understanding of these topics, as well as the confidence and skills needed to address them. They will evaluate and critique the varied responses to these questions, as well as develop their own responses. As a result of this curriculum, we hope to develop our pupils as global citizens of the world and help them thrive.

The Religious Education curriculum is reflective of the diverse groups that make up our school community. As a result, this curriculum should foster dialogue and understanding between all people. This ambitious curriculum reinforces the importance of RE in our community as an academic discipline, requiring pupils to develop their religious literacy; as a result, they will be able to enter our diverse and rapidly changing society as active citizens, with a complete understanding of the universal values that underpin our society. As such, the curriculum (including the topics and religions in focus) strives to ensure all pupils are supported to develop positive attitudes of respect towards people from all backgrounds, religions and worldviews.

The principal aim of RE at Lord Derby Academy is to ensure all pupils are able to:

• Know about and understand a range of religions and non-religious worldviews
• Express ideas and insights about nature, significance and impact of religious and non-religious worldviews
• Gain and deploy the skills/knowledge needed to engage seriously with religious and non-religious worldviews

LDA RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CURRICULUM MODEL 2022-23

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Throughout the Lord Derby Academy Religious Education (RE) curriculum, we strive to engage our pupils with complex, universal questions that are largely explored through various world religions and worldviews. Through these challenging questions, pupils can develop their knowledge and personal understanding of the world, and what it means to be a part of it.

YEAR 7

Year 7 Religious Education at Lord Derby Academy helps people to consider the very nature of religion and what it truly means to believe and have faith. Throughout year 7, pupils at Lord Derby Academy will consider the importance of religion to the lives of the faithful, as well as how that faith might differ between different religious perspectives. This will also allow pupils to address their own misconceptions about religion, and what it means to have belief in a religion.

Year 7 enquires include:

• What difference does it make to believe?
• What is so radical about Jesus?
• What is good and challenging about being a modern teenage Sikh in modern Britain

YEAR 8

Year 8 Religious Education at Lord Derby Academy explores the issues of morality, and the role that religion has in ensuring that people are moral and good. Pupils will explore how people can express positive actions in their own life (such as through charity) and the role that religion plays in fostering positive morality like this. Pupils will consider multiple perspectives and worldviews and draw their own conclusions on this matter. Pupils will also consider more philosophical questions regarding the nature of religion and morality as they consider whether any evidence is required to truly believe in God, and whether that can influence a person’s moral decisions.

Year 8 enquires include:

• Should religious buildings be sold to feed the starving?
• Does religion help people to be good?
• Do we need to prove God’s existence?

YEAR 9

Year 9 Religious Education at Lord Derby Academy focuses on the varied and diverse answers to some of life’s most important and difficult questions. Largely, questions like this have been explored by religion and so we will use the varied perspectives of both religious and non-religious worldviews to establish an understanding of these concepts. Pupils will then be challenged to consider these questions themselves, as well as their own answers and their own perspectives on these challenging concepts. By doing this, pupils will engage with the world around them on a deeper level.

Year 9 enquires include:

• Is death the end, and does it matter?
• Why is there suffering, and are there any good solutions?
• Is religion a power for peace or a cause of conflict in the world today?