R.E.
The Team
Mrs J Linsley - Head of Department
Mr C Jackson
Miss E Aitkins
Our Department is fully inclusive. All students within school receive 1 hour a week Religious Education Curriculum. Entry to Full GCSE is for all (where inclusively possible) using the WJEC Specification B ‘Believing & Living & Believing & Experiencing’ Specification B Option B syllabus. Students sit Formal GCSE exams at the end of Year 10 and Year 11. All students attend Collective Worship once a week delivered by Heads of House, students and Clergy/ Chaplaincy Team. This worship is in the main, predominantly of a Christian nature. All students receive a weekly Tutor session “Thought for the Week”. Students take part in other community and School Acts of Worship and activities and events, both on and off site. We have Active Christian Unions at KS3 & 4 attended by both Christian & Muslim students.
The school prospectus carries information for Parents that wish to remove or withdraw students from RE lessons or / & Collective Worship and they may seek meetings with the Head & HoD. This is an unusual scenario and at present, no-one is withdrawn.
Accommodation & Resources
The dedicated classrooms are housed in a well resourced and new built environment.
Rooms are equipped with Interactive Whiteboards and DVD and Video facilities. We have a library with excellent facilities and a supportive librarian. We have an artefact collection and a good base of new texts to draw upon at both KS3 & 4.
We follow, and take as our starting point and guidance, The Dorset Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education ‘ R.E.Search : Asking the Big Questions’
This syllabus is one of the first in England to make extensive use of the Non Statutory framework for Religious Education. This was produced after extensive consultation with Faith communities and professional organisations giving us a clear rationale for RE and high expectations and standards of the subject.
The new Locally Agreed Syllabus (April 2005) allows us here at Shaftesbury School to;
- Have a strong commitment to promote student’s spiritual, moral, social & cultural development
- Deliver RE inclusively and develop progress, attainment and success in RE for all
- Challenge students in their Learning through the added dimension of the key skills of Reflection, Empathy, Communication and Evaluation
- Highlight for students the Tolerance and Respect Agenda, promoting enquiry into and respecting the beliefs & values of others and combating prejudice and discrimination, Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia
- Gives teachers clear guidance on what to deliver and what standards must be achieved
- Allows students to develop their spirituality and own personal growth as well as to appreciate what it means to have a religious faith and to respect and understand those who have a different faith other than their own or no faith at all.
Useful Revision Links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/re/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/religious_studies.shtml
http://www.reonline.org.uk/
