Religious Studies

It has been said of Jesus:

"All the armies that ever marched, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon the earth as has this one solitary life"

GCSE Religious Studies offers an opportunity for students to begin to investigate for themselves who Jesus was, what he did and said and the relevance this has for people today.

The course consists of three units:

1. An objective study of the life and teaching of Jesus based on a study of Mark's Gospel, along with a study of how the Church has tried to show the importance of these things in both the first and twentieth centuries.
2. A study of Christian and other attitudes towards a range of topical social issues:
3. Poverty in the world
4. Environmental Issues
5. War, Violence and the use of force
6. Community relations, focusing especially on the forms and consequences of Prejudice - Particularly racial
7. The use and abuse of drugs
8. Money, work and leisure
9. Marriage and divorce, asking questions such as:
10. Why marry?
11. What makes a "successful" marriage?
12. Why marriages break up and possible consequences
13. Issues of life and death, including:
14. The abortion debate
15. Euthanasia
16. the care of the elderly
17. Compulsory coursework, which can give the pupil up to 20% of the marks towards the final examination. This part of the course enables students to engage in personal research into those areas of the syllabuses which he/she finds particularly interesting. This research will be presented in the form of a mini-project of between 1000-1500 words in length. TWO such projects will have to be presented by the end of the spring term in year 11.

The aim of the course is both academic and practical. Students will be informed on issues of general public interest, but it is hoped that they will also develop the skills of argument and discussion which will enable them to come to their own conclusions, and adopt responsible attitudes towards some of the pressing social and moral problems of contemporary society.