The Religious Education department has a true commitment to ensure that all our
students flourish both academically and spiritually. Religious Education for young
people provokes challenging questions about the meaning and purpose of life. It
develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of a variety of religious traditions and
enables them to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish
within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society. RE prompts pupils to
consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others and to explore how they
might contribute to their communities and to the wider society. It encourages empathy,
generosity, and compassion.
Religious Education at Wood Green focuses on three themes: philosophical problems,
ethical dilemmas and learning about and from religious traditions around the world.
These themes are embedded throughout the Key Stages to build knowledge and skills
such as critical thinking and communicating clearly through written and spoken
language.
They are all intended to develop the students’ belief system and their moral compass,
which will enable them to navigate the complexities of modern living. For example, our
prejudice and discrimination module investigates how practising a religion in the UK
can radically change the way you are perceived and treated by others.
In addition to addressing concrete problems which our students may face, our
curriculum is also designed to challenge our students’ minds. This is shown by our
philosophical thought experiments module in year 8 which focuses on the works of
modern philosophers such as Peter Singer, Phillipa Foot and Robert Nozick.
Term 1: Philosophy Module 1 – Does God exist and what evidence do you need to have beliefs?
Purpose: Teaches skills of debate, enquiry and critical thinking.
Content: Should we believe in a god? Atheistic, Theistic and Agnostic arguments for and against Gods existence
Assessment: Does God exist.
Term 2: Humanism module 2 - beliefs and practices
Purpose: to understand the rites of passage and ceremonies and ethics of Humanists.
Content: What is Humanism? Rites of passage and ethical beliefs of Humanists.
Assessment: Test on Humanist beliefs and values.
Term 3 and 4: Islam – Deep dive, beliefs and practice.
Purpose: Builds a sense of respect and acceptance of Islam and a better understanding of the problems Muslims face in the UK, in a hope to create a more equal and diverse society.
Content: Islamic beliefs and practices, how are Muslims treated in the UK today?
Assessment: Essay: How easy is it to be a Muslim in Britain?
Term 5 and 6: Animal Ethics – How should we treat animals?
Purpose: How to be responsible members of the planet and investigating the choices we make in how we treat other species.
Content: What rights do animals have? How should we treat animals? Should we eat animals? should we experiment on animals? Religious views about these issues.
Assessment: Test on - Do animals have rights.
Term 1: Philosophy 2 – Thought Experiments
Purpose: To encounter thought provoking questions and debates which encourage deep metaphysical and ethical thinking. It develops debating skills, oracy and creating justifications for behavioural choices in difficult contexts. Leads to ethics in both GCSE and A-level.
Content: The trolley problem, The ship of Theseus, The original position, The experience machine, Russell’s teapot.
Assessment: knowledge test on understanding key theories.
Term 2 and 3: Buddhism
Purpose: A dharmic religion develops knowledge for GCSE, the children learn from spirituality and coping mechanisms in an increasingly stressful and overwhelming secular world. This is in addition to learning from and about a religion and their core beliefs.
Content: The life of the Buddha, the four noble truths, Buddhist ethics, karma and rebirth, Buddhist worship, Buddhist festivals, Meditation.
Assessment on key beliefs and teachings within Buddhism.
Term 4 and 5: Religion Crime and Punishment
Purpose to understand the reasons behind crime and punishment, and religious views about these, and build a foundation for GCSE ethics.
Content: What are the causes of crime? Aims of Punishment, Ethics of Punishment, treatment of criminals, forgiveness, religious views about these issues.
Assessment: knowledge quiz on key content.
Term 6: Hinduism
Purpose: A dharmic religion to build on key knowledge from Buddhists key concepts such as karma and rebirth,
Content: Hindu culture and caste system of India, Karma, samsara, concept of God within Hinduism, Hindu festivals, Ahimsa
Assessment: knowledge quiz on key content.
Term 1 and 2: Prejudice and Discrimination
Purpose: Fits schools development plan, building a community which is anti-racist and individuals who are not bystanders. We discuss key social and cultural issues which are important for historical injustices and contemporary problems in society. Especially in a predominantly white and homogenic area. This module also develops notions of agape and loving they neighbour towards all of humanity.
Content: Key terms: prejudice, discrimination, stereotype. racism, sexism, homophobia, religious discrimination, religious views about these issues.
Assessment: Knowledge test on key content.
Term 2 and 3: Philosophy- Epistemology and Moral philosophy
Building key knowledge and skills for GCSE and a taster of A level philosophy, thinking about whether we can trust our senses and how should humans behave.
Content: Descartes 3 waves of doubt, can we know anything at all? Justified True Belief, Infallibilism verses reliabilism, hedonism and the hedonic calculus, Kant and the categorical imperative, Aristotle, and Virtue ethics.
Assessment: Knowledge test on key content
Term 4 and 5: Religion and Life after Death
Purpose: Big philosophical questions which will be encountered in everyone’s life and
is a taboo area for discussion and oracy. It is significant to address this in a space
which is safe and open. It addresses key worldviews, religious perspectives, as well as
Humanist and atheist conceptions of life after death.
Content: What evidence is there for life after death? Resurrection, Reincarnation, Islamic views, ghosts, near death experiences, atheist views of life after death.
Assessment: essay-based question- There is no life after death, discuss.
Christianity
Term 6: Purpose: preparation for GCSE in year ten by understanding the purpose of the bible for Christians and the stories within it and what they teach Christians.
Content: What is the bible and how do you read from the bible? The stories and meanings of Esther, David and Goliath, Abraham, and Daniel.
Assessment: Knowledge test on key content
Note: Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, Section 71, parents can request that their child be wholly or partly excused from receiving religious education given at the school. If you wish to discuss this, please contact Mrs Ward, Head of RE, in the first instance to discuss the RE curriculum.'
Our objective is to ensure that all our students have a grasp of the main religious
tradition of Great Britain and a contrasting religion. For young people to question and
evaluate the beliefs and practices of religion in modern society, and to understand why
religion plays a key part in millions of people's lives across the globe.
Topics Covered
In Year 10, students are taught the content and exam skills. Students will explore two
world religions.
Paper 1 topics:
Christian beliefs and practices
Term 1 -Content: Christian beliefs - the life and death of Jesus (incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension), the trinity, the nature of God, judgement day, sin and salvation, atonement, creation, life after death, heaven, and hell.
Assessment: AQA mock exam on Christian beliefs.
Term 2-Content: Christian practices- Worship, prayer, the sacraments, pilgrimage, festival, persecution, church growth, evangelism, missionaries, work of Christians globally and locally.
Assessment: AQA mock exam on Christian practices
Buddhist beliefs and practices
Term 3- Content: Buddhist beliefs – the Buddha, the 4 noble truths, the 3 marks of existence, the concept of co-dependent arising, The dhamma, Theravada Buddhists, Mahayana Buddhists, Pure land Buddhists, Arhats and Bodhisattvas.
Assessment: AQA mock exam on Buddhist beliefs
Term 4- Content: Buddhist practices – Places of worship, how Buddhists worship, types of meditation, visualisation, death and mourning rituals, karma, samsara and rebirth, festivals, karuna and Metta, the 5 moral precepts, the six perfections.
Assessment: AQA mock exam on Buddhist practices
Summer mock AQA paper 1 Buddhism and Christianity
Term 5 and 6 we begin the ethics paper please see year 11 below for a summary of this.
Our aim is for students to understand and evaluate key ethical dilemmas that people
in the world face today and form their own opinions about how people should behave,
as well as apply religious perspectives to these issues.
Topics Covered
In Year 11, students are taught the content and exam skills of four themes and the
application of religion to the issues.
Term 1: Religion conflict, peace, and justice
Content: causes of war, religious beliefs about war, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, can violence be justified, suffering and evil, just war theory, pacifism and peace-making, holy war, religious views on these topics.
Assessment: AQA mock on: Religion conflict, peace, and justice
Term 2: Religion and human rights
Content: Prejudice and discrimination in religion and belief, including the status and treatment within religion of women and those in same sex relationships. Human rights and the responsibilities that come with rights, social justice. Racial prejudice and discrimination. Wealth, including: the right attitude to wealth, the uses of wealth. The responsibilities of wealth, including the duty to tackle poverty and its causes. Exploitation of those living in poverty including issues relating to fair pay and excessive interest on loans, people-trafficking. Charity, including issues related to giving money to those living in poverty. Religious views on these topics.
Assessment: AQA mock paper on human rights and social justice
Term 4: Religion and life
Content: the origins of humans and the value of the world, use and abuse of the environment, pollution, origins of human life, Abortion, Euthanasia, death, and the afterlife. Religious views on these topics.
Assessment: AQA mock paper on religion and life
Term 5 Revison and exam technique
GCSE Religious Studies Specification
This demanding course aims to enhance your ability to analyse issues, question
received assumptions and develop clear and logical reasoning skills through
engagement with philosophical texts, discussion, and essay writing. You will learn what
great thinkers of the past and present have said about life’s big issues and evaluate
them in critical essays.
Term 1-3: Epistemology
Content: what is knowledge? Tripartite view and responses to this, Direct realism, Indirect realism, Scepticism, Innatism, Empiricist responses, Intuition and Deduction, Limits of knowledge
Term 4-6: Moral philosophy
Content: Utilitarianism, Kant's deontological ethics, Aristotle's Virtue ethics, Applied ethics, Meta ethics.
Assessment: range of exam practice, and mock exams.
More detail on the A level curriculum
This demanding course aims to enhance your ability to analyse issues, question
received assumptions and develop clear and logical reasoning skills through
engagement with philosophical texts, discussion and essay writing. You will learn what
great thinkers of the past and present have said about life’s big issues and evaluate
them in critical essays.
Term 1-3: Metaphysics of God
Content; Does God exist? Is it possible to prove or disprove the existence
of God? Coherence of God, Teleological, Cosmological, Ontological arguments. Religious language, the problem of evil.
Term 3 - 5: Metaphysics of Mind
Content: What is the nature and origin of human consciousness? Are our
thoughts biologically predetermined? substance dualism, property dualism, behaviourism, functionalism, mind brain –type identity theory, eliminativist materialism.
Assessment: range of exam practice, and mock exams.
A level Philosophy specification
Updated November 2025
