Religious Studies

Our RE curriculum is centred around developing the whole person in critical thought, analytic abilities and how faith impacts people at a practical and spiritual level. Across all key stages, pupils build powerful knowledge of the Catholic faith, understanding the rich history of the faith, the core beliefs, and how such history and beliefs impact the lives of Catholics every single day through the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Through each unit studied, pupils leave Blessed Thomas Holford equipped with the academic skills to succeed in an array of professional settings, and a salient understanding of how to apply such academic thought to enrich the lives of themselves and others around them.

At key stage 3, we study six branches of the curriculum set by the Religious Education Directory, revisiting and deepening pupils’ understanding of each branch each year. This is achieved by drawing in new material to secure each pupil’s understanding of these key elements of faith. Through this curriculum, set nationally by the conference of bishops, pupils are encouraged to be discerning and creative individuals, being assessed through a variety of tasks that aid progression of all six of our curriculum intents. 

At key stage 4, pupils build upon the skills gained throughout key stage 3 to complete their Eduqas Route B GCSE, which focuses heavily on the impact that religious beliefs can have on an individual, comparisons of Catholic Christianity, other denominations, the Jewish faith, and non-religious attitudes, and the significance of religious practises to one’s faith. Each of these areas of focus are practised and assessed continually and in conjunction with one another, ensuring that pupils hone these skills and have ample time to reflect on and improve their progress within the subject. This progress is assessed formally on a lesson by lesson basis, through verbal feedback, extended writing opportunities and exam practise, as well as five summative Centre Assessments throughout the key stage 4 course.

Similarly, our A Level builds upon this idea of critical thought, with students’ essays weighted heavily towards their persuasive writing and evaluative abilities, examining certain aspects of faith introduced throughout Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, such as St Augustine’s teachings, Death and The Afterlife and the Knowledge of God’s Existence.

Throughout all key stages, we are committed to facilitating and inspiring long-term learning and skills development through retrieval activities, extended writing, debate and independent evaluation, all of which work in unison to ensure that pupils can achieve the very most from their time in Religious Education.