Religious Studies

Be a free thinker and don’t accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in.

Aristotle

Intent

Religious Studies at Hartford Church of England High School provides pupils with the opportunity to establish and articulate their individual beliefs, values and opinions with reference to religious and non-religious worldviews at local, national, and international levels. Pupils will be inspired to reflect on their potential to contribute to the global narrative surrounding religion and spirituality.

At the culmination of their time at Hartford Church of England High School, pupils will be autonomously thinking, spiritually literate, educated citizens. Religious Studies prepares pupils to become active participants within their community through engaging with a diverse range of views. Pupils will develop the skills required to critically evaluate, analyse and respond respectfully, including to those with shared and contrasting values, together with challenging their own perceptions.

We aim to ensure that pupils can explain the importance of belief, its influence on individuals and groups, and the diversity across religious and secular traditions, as well as the external factors which have helped shape and continue shaping them as a person. To aid students in establishing their purpose and place in the world, the Religious Studies curriculum centres on the individual; it is about being inquisitive, open-minded and tolerant of all.

Design Rationale

The curriculum is underpinned by the dual disciplinary lens of Religious Studies: Learning about Religion and Learning from Religion, ensuring that pupils not only acquire substantive knowledge of traditions but also consider how belief systems inform lived experience, ethical decision making, and identity formation.

Key Stage 3 provides a deliberately broad and balanced introduction to major world religions, while ensuring sustained and progressive engagement with Christianity throughout the year in line with the school's Church of England Ethos. Pupils are encouraged to develop secure disciplinary knowledge alongside the ability to reflect on belief, practice, and worldview formation. Each unit is designed to integrate both the study of religion and personal reflection, enabling pupils to develop as inquisitive learners who can make informed, respectful, and reasoned responses to complex questions of faith and meaning.

Assessment across Key Stage 3 combines knowledge recall with extended analytical writing. Pupils are regularly required to construct sustained arguments, evaluate differing perspectives, and apply religious and philosophical concepts to contemporary issues. This ensures progressive development of disciplinary literacy, critical thinking, and academic writing proficiency.

By the end of Key Stage 3, pupils will have developed a secure and nuanced understanding of major world religions and non-religious worldviews, alongside the analytical tools required to engage critically with complex moral, philosophical, and theological questions. They will be equipped not only to understand belief, but to reflect upon its significance in shaping individuals, communities, and societies, preparing them for informed and active participation in an increasingly diverse world.

At GCSE, pupils follow the AQA Religious Studies specification, developing secure knowledge of religious beliefs, teachings, and practices alongside sophisticated engagement with philosophical and ethical themes. The curriculum is designed to build analytical precision, evaluative confidence, and sustained academic argument.

Assessments fully aligned with AQA examination requirements, and combines knowledge recalled with structured exam-style questions (1-12 marks), developing pupils’ ability to construct clear, evidence-based arguments, including synoptic evaluation, under timed conditions.

Across all Key Stages, Religious Studies at Hartford Church of England High School is designed to ensure pupils:

Develop secure knowledge of religious and non-religious worldviews
Engage critically with philosophical, ethical, and theological ideas
Construct sustained, reasoned and evaluative arguments
Understand the role of belief in shaping identity and society
Reflect on their own worldview with intellectual independence
Demonstrate respect, empathy, and cultural literacy in response to diversity

The curriculum is ultimately centred on the development of reflective, articulate and ethically aware individuals who can navigate complex moral landscapes with confidence, nuance, and intellectual integrity.

Delivery

Religious Studies is delivered through a diverse and carefully sequenced range of teaching and learning strategies designed to promote secure knowledge retention, conceptual understanding, and disciplined critical thinking.

Each lesson begins with a self-assessed knowledge retrieval task (‘Do Now’), enabling pupils to consolidate prior learning and make explicit connects to new concepts. This retrieval practice supports long-term memory development and ensures continuity across topics. Pupils are there provided with end points with clear ‘Know That’ and ‘Know How’ statements which outline the substance, declarative, procedural and disciplinary knowledge students are expected to take away from the lesson, establishing academic purpose and focus.

Teachers introduce new content through explicit instruction, supported by carefully selected visual and multimedia resources, including videos, imagery and illustrative examples. This ensures accessibility while maintaining academic rigour and conceptual clarity.

Lessons incorporate structured questioning and discussion to promote deeper engagement with new ideas. This approach allows misconceptions to be identified and addressed in real time, while also fostering moral and intellectual development through dialogue and reflection.

Modelling is used consistently to demonstrate high quality responses and disciplinary thinking. Pupils then engaged in guided and independent practice, including extended writing tasks that require application of knowledge, analysis and evaluation. This supports the progressive development of academic writing and reasoning skills.

Lessons conclude with revisiting key concepts, enabling pupils to reflect on their process and consolidate understanding.

Assessment takes place throughout each half term, with students completing regular Knowledge Reviews, Extended Critical Writing responses, and exam-style questions.

Impact

The effectiveness of curriculum implementation is measured by student progress; progress means knowing, remembering and producing more and is the direct result of excellent learning.

To track progress, we follow a three-layered assessment structure.

High Stake Testing

High quality summative assessments (twice or three times a year) interleave knowledge and skills to support students in developing long-term memory. Stand-alone lessons ensure that students reflect and respond to teacher feedback.

Mid Stake Testing

Typically, purposeful practice tasks completed independently in lessons at least twice per half-term. These tasks are used to identify learning gaps prior to high stake testing. Students receive personalised written feedback to which they respond in lessons.

Low Stake Testing

To embed knowledge in long-term memory, every lesson starts with students quizzed on prior knowledge (Do Now Tasks). Student performance is then used effectively by teachers to identify misconceptions and plan accordingly to narrow knowledge gaps.

Department Strengths

Seven subject specialists who are passionate about their subject area, including an exam board marker.
The curriculum has recently been updated to ensure a broad and balanced study of the Big Six World Religions alongside contemporary ethical issues, making content relevant and relatable for all students.
A strong relationship with our partner church, St John's, with annual visits to explore the role of the church in the local community and its history.
A range of extra-curricular activities including Thinking Factory, Thought Experiments and RS Craft Club.
After-school revision offered to all Year 11 students as they approach their GCSE.

Potential Post-16 Destinations

Cheshire College - South & West

A Level Philosophy and Ethics

Priestley College

A Level Religious Studies
Philosophy

Sir John Deane's Sixth Form College

A Level Philosophy (Ethics and Religion)

St Nicholas Catholic Sixth Form

A Level Philosophy and Ethics
A Level Religious Education

Hartford Church of England High School