Our curriculum intent applies to all our young people, regardless of background, gender, sexual orientation or ability. As a school, and department, we are absolutely committed that the opportunities we plan for and implement ensure that each student can reach and exceed their potential.   

Religious Education enables students to gain knowledge, understanding and skills by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, belief, God, ultimate reality, right and wrong and what it means to be a human.  Exploring what people believe and how it makes a difference to they live. 

Religious Education at Washington Academy responds to the national calls for deepening pupils’ knowledge about religions and for developing their ‘religious literacy’.  We do this through a mixture of systematic and thematic units which build on learning by comparing religions, beliefs and practices studies.  

The teaching and learning approach has three core elements, which are woven together to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religion and beliefs, underpinning the aims of RE: 

• Making sense of religious and non-religious beliefs. 
• Understanding the impact of religious and non-religious beliefs. 
• Making connections between religious and non-religious beliefs, concepts, practices, and ideas studied. 

Religious Education at Washington Academy gives students valuable insights into the diverse beliefs & opinions held by people today. It helps with their own personal development & supports an understanding of the spiritual, moral, social & cultural questions that surface again & again in their lives. Religious Education at Washington Academy helps pupils develop an understanding of themselves and others, further promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of individuals and of groups and communities. 

At GCSE level, Religious Education is concerned with the philosophy and ethics of belief: what do the major religions tell us? Why do they tell us these things? What does it mean to believe in that religion? What impact does those religions have on individuals and society? Students will be challenged with questions about belief, values, meaning, purpose, and truth, enabling them to develop their own attitudes towards religious issues. Students will also gain an appreciation of how religion, philosophy and ethics form the basis of our culture. 

The RE course at Washington Academy is a 2-year programme of study leading to a highly valued GCSE qualification following the AQA Specification A. At Washington Academy we very much promote that studying RE is not about you having a religious faith or belief, it is about understanding why and how others have those beliefs. 

Curriculum Overview

Year 7

• Autumn Term 1:  What does it mean to be a Christian?
• Autumn Term 2: What does it mean to be a Christian?
• Spring Term 1: Creation and Stewardship
• Spring Term 2: Creation and Stewardship
• Summer Term 1: Festivals
• Summer Term 2: Festivals

Year 8

• Autumn Term 1: Why is there suffering in the world?
• Autumn Term 2:  Why is there suffering in the world?
• Spring Term 1: Islam: What does it mean to be a Muslim in Great Britain?
• Spring Term 2:  Islam: What does it mean to be a Muslim in Great Britain?
• Summer Term 1:  Life after death
• Summer Term 2: Life after death

Year 9

• Autumn Term 1: Religion and Equality
• Autumn Term 2: Religion and Equality
• Spring Term 1: What difference does it make to be atheist or agnostic in Great Britain?
• Spring Term 2: What difference does it make to be atheist or agnostic in Great Britain?
• Summer Term 1: Religion and the media
• Summer Term 2: Religion and the media

Year 11

• Autumn Term 1:  Christian beliefs
• Autumn Term 2: Christian practices
• Spring Term 1: Islamic beliefs
• Spring Term 2:  Islamic Practices
• Summer Term 1:  Revision and examinations
• Summer Term 2:  Final preparation for GCSE examinations