Faculty of Religious Education
Intention of Religious Education at Holy Trinity
The intention of the RE curriculum at Holy Trinity is best summarised through the department motto, ‘Inspirante per fidem’ (inspiring through faith). Our intention is to inspire our pupils, to make them faith-filled and hopeful individuals, who hold a deeper understanding of their own faith or spirituality. Through good quality teaching and rigours enquiry we want to encourage our pupils to be ambitious and more confident in themselves, able to question and come to their own conclusions and beliefs, whilst broadening their horizons and making more tolerant, understanding and welcoming of others of different communities, creeds and world views.
As there is no set National Curriculum for RE and as a Catholic school we are required to follow the Curriculum Directory given to us by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales the curriculum has been designed to best serve our pupils at Holy Trinity whilst adhering fully to the Directory. From September 2023 we will be phasing in the new Religious Education Directory (RED) and moving away from the old Religious Education Catholic Directory. This meant that year 7 in 2023 started the new RED and will follow it through to Year 9. By September 2025 all years in KS3 will be on lesson that adhere and follow the new RED
The Key Stage Three curriculum is designed to holistically develop our pupils, to encourage pupils to become more critical and evaluative, more sure and confident in themselves and to know of God’s love for all of His creation. Academically it is designed give pupils an understanding of the Catholic faith and community whilst also giving them an understanding of different religions and world views and ultimately preparing them for their GCSE study.
Curriculum Content
Key Stage Three
New RED – utilising the ‘Source to Summit’ resources.
In Key Stage Three, pupils will be following different schemes of work. This is because in the RE department we are at a point of transition. We are in the process of creating and teaching lessons that adhere to the new Religious Education Directory (RED) which must be fully implemented in all Catholic secondary schools by September 2025. In order to meet this deadline we started to teacher the RED curriculum to Year 7 pupils in September 2023. At the time of writing (2024) we currently have both Year 7 and 8 working through the RED curriculum and Year 9 continuing to work though
the previous curriculum that was in place when they started school. By September 2025 all KS3 pupils will be working through the RED curriculum.
For the first time in its history the directory has been written in quite a prescriptive open and mirrors a scheme of work to help teachers deliver the desired content and ensure quality education. Our intent is that we use both the RED and the resource “Source to Summit” to create a curriculum that is accessible yet challenging and prepares pupils for GCSE study. We will also tailor assessments in order to prioritise the successful mastery of skills that are required for GCSE study.
This ongoing process will take shape and develop over time before being fully implemented and embedded in practice. Prior to the September 2025 deadline.
Year 7
In year 7 pupils start to follow a new programme of study that follows the requirements set out by the Religious Education Directory of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. In year 7 the specific sequencing and design of the curriculum has been created using resources from “Source to Summit” but has been added to and adapted by the RE department leadership team to better meet the needs and demands of our pupils.
Year 8
In Year 8 pupils who started the RED curriculum last year are continuing with this into Year 8. The “Source to Summit” resources where released early 2024. Therefore, less opportunity has been had to adapt this part of the curriculum for our pupils. It is the intention of the RE department leadership to adapt this part of the curriculum more once teacher have taught the Year 8 curriculum and have more understanding and experience of it. This to take place in the summer of 2025, until that time pupils will follow the “Source to Summit” resources as designed.
Year 9
In Year 9 pupils are still following the previous curriculum based on the RECD and a programme of study designed by the Head of RE, Mr D Bayliss. This part of the old KS3 curriculum was designed to build upon what pupils had learnt in the previous Year 7 and 8 content and brings together important real world content with theological study.
Firstly, pupils study the final Abrahamic religion of Islam they learn how Islam has been influenced by Judaism and Christianity but still a unique faith in itself. The ‘Who am I’ topic which is focus on personal identity and respect of one’s self, whilst looking at the Capital Virtues and Vices. Pupils then study religious teachings on the family and relationships looking at various SRE content. Throughout the year there is a focus on how each topic is portrayed or relates to social media, media/news and the online world.
We have chosen to teach pupils this content in Year 9 as they are of an age and academic maturity that they can grasp the concepts, also because some of these topics are ultimately important at this time in a young person’s development. At this age pupils are more vulnerable to social media and the pressures of peers and teenage life and so we wanted to look at what the Church can teach them about themselves and about self-respect before delving into what would be direct SRE related content which we do in Year 9 and they will also do in PSD lessons outside of RE.
The intent in to inspire and promote philosophical enquiry as well support practical applications of the messages of God and the Church on human life and the purpose of the individual. As well as ensure pupils have a greater in-depth understanding of Judaism and the Bible.
Key Stage Four
In Key Stage 4 our curriculum is of course in line with the exam board and GCSE specification. We have chosen to teach the EDUQAS RE GCSE ROUTE B. This is after consultation and guidance from the Archdiocese of Birmingham and the Bishops of England and Wales. This is also the reason we choose our second religion to be Judaism; this brings us in line with most Catholic schools across the country.
We continue where we finished Year 9 with a recap of Jewish beliefs and then a study of Jewish practices. Knowledge of Judaism and the history of Judaism helps inform the Biblical history that will inform the next topics content when we then start to look at the Foundational Catholic Theology, Origins & meanings and Good & Evil. We find that these more philosophical topics are more engaging and have links that allow pupils to build better mental models after having studied Judaism. Finally, in Year 11 pupils will start their study of Applied Catholic Theology; Sin & Forgiveness and Life after Death. This builds on the foundational theology studied before and requires the prior knowledge, in-depth study and more time than perhaps other areas of Catholic study because the ideas explored are of a uniquely Christian Theological nature and often require much dissection and exploration before they are fully understood by our pupils.
Year 11, tend to finish the GCSE content before Easter and we then use this time to prepare for the GCSE exams in May.
