From the 10s upwards, Religious Studies is taught as a discrete subject.
The theme in the 10s is ‘What it means to be...?’, where pupils explore religious and spiritual identities. Pupils begin by studying the life of the Buddha and how this impacts Buddhist communities, before exploring key Islamic teachings and their influence on the lives of Muslims in the UK and abroad. They then consider what it means to be spiritual, whether this requires a God and how spirituality can be expressed in art.
In the 11s pupils examine what it means to have a ‘worldview’. They then explore the 'Big Story' in the Bible, gaining a strong foundational knowledge of the defining events in the development of Christianity. Finally, pupils explore how Sikhs value equality and service, dealing with, and going beyond, discussion of the importance of ‘sewa’ (selfless service) and the ‘langar’ (community kitchen), among other examples.
In the 12s pupils investigate the role of religion in the world. They look at secular ethics and how morality can function without religion, before exploring questions surrounding moral responsibility and the extent to which humans have free will. Pupils are then invited to reflect upon key questions surrounding peace and conflict from multiple religious perspectives - (What, if anything, makes a conflict justified? Is peace a meaningful aim when ideologies are divided?) - with a view to being able to ultimately come to their own understanding on these questions.
For full details of year by year RS studies in the Prep, please download the Harrodian Curriculum Handbooks.
Staff
Head of Religious Studies: Mary Sanders
Other teachers of Religious Studies: please select the relevant department on the dropdown menu to view our full staff list by clicking here.