Ethics & Beliefs

List of TLR Holders and their responsibilities:

Mrs R Calam  (Head of Department)

Department aims:

It is a legal requirement that, even if you do not choose to take Religious Education as a GCSE option, you must continue to study some RE.  At Robert May’s School we fulfill that requirement by considering a number of issues alongside the PDL (Personal Development Learning) modules. These Ethics and Beliefs modules are not only there because the law requires them, they also examine topics which are of interest or concern for society and the world we live in.

Approaches to teaching and learning:

The Ethics and Beliefs course is designed to further develop a range of necessary skills and experiences to prepare students for their role in the adult and wider world. These include communication (expressing ideas clearly in writing, confidently in speech and listening to the views of others), participation (using a range of social skills, working confidently with a group and building positive working relationships with others as a team player) and critical thinking (identifying, constructing and evaluating arguments). We teach using a range of teaching activities including, discussion, debate, group work and the use of media clips. As with all RE at Robert May’s, students are free to have and express their own points of view and are always expected to treat the views of others with respect.

Ethics and Beliefs is a non-examined course.

Why the department has adopted this curriculum plan: (Curriculum Intent):

The curriculum plan allows pupils to enquire into a range of Ethical concepts. Pupils can contextualise these in a way that helps them to understand religion (non-religion), belief (non-belief) and spirituality as a human experience. They can communicate their own response to these concepts whilst applying them to a range of other situations. This knowledge can be applied to numerous other subjects in the school and to life-long learning, offering a springboard to success for further study and life experiences.