At New Road Academy students will enjoy the opportunity to study a broad religious curriculum. Religion is a fundamental element to understanding humanity in all its forms. With over five billion people on Earth considering themselves as part of a religion, the study of its traditions and practices is of paramount importance in an

ever more fractious world. At New Road Academy we aim to provide a fascinating insight into world religion and its application from an all-inclusive standpoint. We deal with a wide range of ethical and philosophical ideas leading to multiple opportunities for structured debate where the sharing of constructive opinions is positively

encouraged. We aim to foster an understanding and appreciation of faith and different religious perspectives, with a specific focus on religions that are prominent in our local community.

The KS3 Religious Studies curriculum has been designed to provide a wide ranging overview of world religion, both its belief systems and its application to

the modern world. Students begin their time with us at New road Academy completing the Transition Unit in the Locally Agreed Syllabus that they should’ve started in Year 6, looking at ethics and responses to a range of ethical issues. In Year 7 we aim to study the history and practices of religions that might be overt to our students in order for them to further understand their peers; this involves a focus on the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as units of work considering Sikhism and Hinduism. At the start of Year 8, we study Buddhism that may not be as well represented in their communities to give them a broader knowledge of religious beliefs and begin to prepare students who take the subject at GCSE. As students’ progress throughout Year 8, they learn about non-religious worldviews (which for a number of students, will reflect their own experience with faith) and they are able to take the principles of these religions and apply them to a range of modern world issues and ideas such as the environment, prejudice and suffering. Year 9 steps up in difficulty as students study the philosophy and ethics that underpin religious movements and are introduced to the issues they will study if they choose Religious Studies as an option at GSCE.

Religious Studies at New Road Academy is implemented through an innovative approach that promotes and fosters curiosity, debate and achievement. Students will

understand the relevance of the topic to the world around them, even in an increasingly secular society, and will develop a strong sense of the ethics and philosophy through their Religious Studies lessons. The knowledge supplied through studying the course is powerful and allows students access to “knowledge that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to” (Burns, 2018); RS can enable students to acquire knowledge that takes them beyond their own experiences, often helping them to better understand the experiences of their peers. Constructive debate will feature regularly with participants able to develop both their written and oral skills, key skills in the modern job market.

The RS department at New Road Academy uses teaching and learning strategies that are research informed and staff are constantly striving to improve to ensure that students access Quality First Teaching that involves strategies endorsed by key publications/organisations within the RS community, such as RE Today and NATRE. Retrieval practice will be a key feature in lessons with knowledge and understanding being tested regularly though topic and vocabulary tests, as well as in lesson questioning, helping to embed and retain complex ideas in the long term memory. Lessons follow the New Road Academy lesson phase model that allows students to both develop their knowledge and apply/demonstrate their

Upon completing their Religious Studies course, we aim to have moulded an ethical and open minded young person who goes forward with a profound sense of tolerance and a clear understanding of the positive role of religion in modern society. The course will also have given students the opportunity to develop

According to the length of the unit of work, Key Stage 3 students will be given 1 to 2 pieces of homework per unit; the aim of the tasks will be to retrieve and develop subject knowledge for application in lessons and assessments. Tasks will be both paper based and online, using platforms such as Seneca. Support will always be available for homework activities with students able to email staff if they have any questions or concerns.

Opportunities for enrichment are vast in Religious Studies and we have previously arranged a number of trips to different places of worship both within Telford and further across Shropshire and the West Midlands. We have links with the Youth Pastor at the Telford Minster, who has previously come in to deliver assemblies and work with specific classes during the Christianity unit of work. Throughout the years we have been involved with the Telford and Wrekin Council Holocaust Memorial Day event, as well as having had students involved in the RE Today annual Spirited Arts competition. During the year, members of the RS team also advise on assemblies/events related to religious days as part of the school’s curriculum engagement weeks.

Religious Studies instils a wide range of transferrable skills in our students that are desired in a number of careers; RS also fosters inclusivity and tolerance for others, a key skill of any workplace in modern, multicultural Britain. Our focus on developing opinions for debate and extended writing skills are ideal for careers such as journalism, law and social work. Sensitivity to contentious issues within society, as well as the continued development of empathy throughout our curriculum, would equally be ideal for future careers in policing and politics.