Religious Education

The RE curriculum aims to contribute to students’ personal development as well as supporting the Academy’s value of developing a ’Global View.’ Through in-depth learning of different religions and worldviews, the aim at Harris Academy Clapham (HACL) is to encourage the promotion of mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse society.

At HACL, the RE curriculum offers opportunities for personal reflection, whilst deepening student understanding of the significance religion plays in the lives of others.

To achieve this, the curriculum aims to:

• Develop empathy and understanding of the beliefs of all religions and cultures, with particular focus on Christianity as the main religious tradition of Great Britain.
• Offer an authentic representation of lived religious experiences.
• Develop an understanding of what it means to live in a multi-cultural society like Lambeth.
• Allow students to explore, examine and justify their own beliefs as well as the beliefs of others, developing positive relationships with others.
• Develop a respect for the religious practices of people of all faiths and those of no faith.
• Ensure students understand how religious beliefs can influence the moral decisions of people in situations in the world today.
• Through analysis of current affairs, students will consider contemporary moral issues and how religious or ethical standpoints might influence people’s opinions on them.
• Develop an understanding that religious belief is subjective to reduce intolerance in society.

Students in RE will need to…

• Retain key ideas and concepts of religions, developing students’ religious literacy.
• Make links with wider concepts.
• Recall a variety of beliefs and the ways in which these influence the thoughts and actions of a believer.
• Understand more than one point of view, examining and justifying their own beliefs as well as the beliefs of others.
• Maintain a growth mindset to consider the opinions of diverse groups.
• Critically analyse scenarios - allowing students to come to reasoned conclusions.

Students should also challenge themselves to...

• Evaluate in depth – weighing up strengths and weaknesses of arguments.
• Interpret scripture and other sources of religious authority effectively and use it to support points.
• Higher knowledge retention, demonstrated through re-call of key knowledge not just from the previous lesson but from previous topics.
• Consistently attempting challenge questions/tasks independently.
• Empathise with other views to consider wider perspectives on global issues.