Philosophy & Ethics
Department Contacts
| Staff | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Mr S Titchmarsh | Head of Humanities and Subject Lead of Philosophy and Ethics | Sean.Titchmarsh@thomasclarksonacademy.org |
| Mrs P Page | Teacher of Humanities | Paula.Page@thomasclarksonacademy.org |
| Mrs T Wright | Teacher of Humanities | Tanya.Wright@thomasclarksonacademy.org |
| Miss J Keating | Teacher of Humanities | Jade.Keating@thomasclarksonacademy.org |
| Dr R Lawrence | Teacher of Humanities | Rachel.Lawrence@thomasclarksonacademy.org |
| Miss C Stannard | Teacher of Humanities | Charlotte.Stannard@thomasclarksonacademy.org |
Philosophy and Ethics
This section provides an overview of the KS3 and KS4 curriculum and resources to aid revision and support progress.
Curriculum
All students on entry in Year 7 study Philosophy and Ethics on rotational basis with other Humanities subjects, in which they are introduced to the six major world religions, beginning with Judaism, Christianity and Islam in this order. Please see the attached curriculum overview. All students are assessed summatively at the mid-point and end of each unit using the two assessment objectives provided by the exam board.
Subject Content
Key Stage 3
At Key stage 3, we follow the Cambridgeshire locally agreed syllabus which requires us to teach Christianity and five other world religions, humanism and an acknowledgement of other world views and other religions found in the locality.
Key Stage 4
At Key stage 4, students who opt to study Religious Studies will follow a course which leads to the GCSE in Religious Studies.
At the end of the two years of the course, students sit exams in two components:
Component 1: The study of Religions: beliefs, teachings and practices.
There is a choice of two out of the six major world religions and at TCA, we study Christianity and Islam.
Component 2: Thematic Studies
There is a choice of four themes or topics out of six. At TCA we study:
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Religion, Families and Relationships
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Religion and Life
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Religion, Peace and Conflict
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Religion, Crime and Punishment.
Homework
Homework for all year groups is set on Satchel:One forthnightly and is designed to support and develop learning taking place in the classroom.
Homework tasks could include investigating upcoming topic and find out a number of interesting facts about it and prepare a presentation, watching a video and making notes, learning definitions of key words, interviewing people, revising for end of topic test and so on.
KS4 Resources:
A wide range of resources are used to further students’ knowledge and learning experience.
At Key stage 3 lessons are based on Modern World Religions series by Heinemann.
At Key stage 4, we use AQA approved Religious Studies A Christianity and Islam books for the GCSE course.
Websites
BBC Bitesize
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zh3rkqt
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zbndy9q
Important information for parents
Trips are organised for students to reinforce classroom material and to give students the opportunity o visualise and experience what they have learnt.
Trips to churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples widen students’ horizons of knowledge and broaden the scope of the syllabus.