Wychwood School | Religious Studies

Religious Studies

The Religious Studies department at Wychwood school aims to:

  • provoke challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and nature of reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human
  • develop awareness, knowledge and understanding of the principal world religions and other world views that offer answers to questions
  • offer opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development
  • develop understanding, discernment and respect for the beliefs and values of others.

The Religious Studies department is inclusive and enables girls from a variety of faith backgrounds, and those from none, to explore values and beliefs in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Teaching methods in Religious Studies are varied and include opportunities to:

  • meet members of different faith communities
  • visit  places of worship eg. Oxford mosque,  Middleton Stoney Hindu Temple, Coventry Cathedral
  • participate in debates on contemporary or philosophical issues
  • use art and drama to explore beliefs and values

Religious Studies is taught as a separate subject to Remove (Year 7), Inters (Year 8) and Lower Transits (Year 9) in one 40 minute period a week. It includes the study of different aspects of world religions, based on the Oxfordshire Agreed Syllabus and national guidelines for Religious Education.                                           

In the Upper Transits (Year 10) and Shell (Year 11), all Wychwood girls follow the Edexcel  short course GCSE, Syllabus A. This involves studying five units on philosophical and moral issues from Christian and Islamic perspectives.

After GCSE girls can opt to take the OCR Religious Philosophy and Ethics AS and A2 courses.