Welcome to the Religious Studies Department.
Here at Dormston, Religious Studies is taught to all students from Year 7 to Year 10. Religious Studies at Dormston takes a non-confessional and objective approach towards the study of religious and non-religious worldviews. We, in turn, develop a critical approach to studying traditions and draw on philosophical, ethical, theological and cultural methods of enquiry.
Mission Statement
The Dormston Religious Studies department focuses on the study of religious and non-religious worldvews from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. We explore religious traditions in their historical, cultural, philosophical and ethical contexts. We seek to understand how religious and non-religious worldviews evolve, impact our world today, and shape our future.
Our academic engagement with religion, philosophy, and ethics enables us to:
Mr Salton-McLaughlin (aka Mr Mac) – Head of Religious Studies
I always knew I wanted to teach, but it wasn’t until my A Levels that I developed a passion for Religious Studies. I read BA (Hons) Study of Religions at Bath Spa University, where I studied a broad range of religions and spiritualities including African Religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Paganism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and New Religious Movements. I also enjoyed investigating philosophical and ethical questions, with particular interest in eschatology (afterlife) and medical/sexual ethics. I went on to complete my teacher training at the University of Brighton, securing a PGCE (secondary) & QTS in Religious Studies, with PSHE being my second subject.
I’ve been teaching in Dudley and Sandwell ever since 2007, where I’ve performed a range of roles including Head of RS, Head of Humanities, Head of English Baccalaureate, ITT Co-ordinator and Year 7 Strategy Leader. I’ve taught Religious Studies, History, Geography, Citizenship and Psychology up to GCSE level.
I love Religious Studies as it is a true cross-curricular subject. We delve into so many other subject areas and disciplines, it never feels like I’m just teaching one subject. I love the discussions we have in Religious Studies lessons, and developing debating skills. I enjoy studying and teaching the diversity within and between religions, and there is always something new to learn.
Mrs Gidda – Teacher of Religious Studies
I love teaching Religious Studies because it encourages students to explore life’s biggest questions — about meaning, morality, and what it means to be human. RS gives every student the opportunity to express their ideas, challenge assumptions, and develop respect for different worldviews.
What I value most about RS is how it promotes understanding, empathy, and appreciation for diversity. It helps young people see the world through others’ eyes and builds the foundations for unity, inclusivity, and tolerance.
My love of travel has also inspired me to share my experiences with students — from visiting sacred sites to meeting people of many faiths and cultures. These experiences have deepened my belief in the importance of connecting with others and learning from our shared humanity.
I studied Religion, Philosophy and Ethics at university, where I developed a particular interest in how faith shapes moral decision-making and human behaviour. My passion lies in helping students connect philosophical and ethical ideas to real-world issues — from social justice and equality to peace and the environment.
Above all, I hope my lessons inspire students to think for themselves, value diversity, and make a positive difference in the world
Mr Wood – Teacher of Religious Studies
Hi, I’m Mr Wood. Religious Studies was my favourite subject at both GCSE and A Level and I always wanted to be a teacher. Before teaching Religious Studies, I used to be ‘the animal man’ going around schools with exotic animals and giving talks on things like conservation and animal rights. I’ve been teaching in Dudley since 2009.
In that time, I have had many multifaced roles, from Head of Religious Studies, Head of Psychology, Head of Sociology, Head of Year, Stonewall Champion and Student Voice Lead – but my favourite thing in the world is being in the classroom just teaching Religious Studies.
Outside of school, I am a member of Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, a life member of the Vegan Society and I am also a swimming instructor and lifeguard with Sandwell Leisure Trust. In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano, cooking Indian and Japanese food and learning languages.
Miss Emma Law – Teacher of Religious Studies and Drama
I have a particular interest in religious expression, drawing on my background in the Arts to inspire rich discussion around both religious and non-religious worldviews. I believe that story-telling lies at the heart of religion — these stories from the past continue to shape and motivate people’s beliefs and actions today. I especially enjoy exploring moral and ethical decision-making, encouraging debate and discussion in lessons to promote higher-level thinking and empathy. Religious Studies is a vibrant, colourful subject with so much to offer our learners here at Dormston, helping them understand the diverse ways people make sense of the world around them.
Religions & Worldviews
Mission Statement:
Religious Studies at Dormston aims to provide an intellectually challenging and personally enriching experience of the study of religion. The Dormston Religious Studies department focuses on the study of religious and non-religious worldviews from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, with ‘phenomenology’ and ‘philosophy’ of religion taking precedence in most cases. We explore religious traditions in their historical, cultural, philosophical and ethical contexts. We seek to understand how religious and non-religious worldviews evolve, impact our world today, and shape our future.
Our academic engagement with religion, philosophy, and ethics enables us to:
Core Religious Studies Curriculum Map:
Year | Half Term 1 | Half Term 2 | Half Term 3 | Half Term 4 | Half Term 5 | Half Term 6 |
7 | The Jewish Covenant Is G-d’s Covenant with Abraham more important than G-d’s Covenant with Moses? | Life of Jesus Did Jesus have to die for sins to be forgiven? | Life of Buddha Was the enlightenment the most important moment in the life of the Buddha? | Existence of God Can the existence of God be proven? | Death & Beyond What happens to us when we die? | Reflection Founders, Worldviews and Philosophy |
8 | Buddha Dharma Is craving the cause of suffering? | 5 Pillars of Islam Is prayer the best way to worship Allah? | Gurus of Sikhism How did Sikhism change through the guruship? | Christian Worship What is the best way for Christians to worship God? | Jewish Lifestyle What makes a Jewish life unique? | Reflection Religions and Worldviews / Practices |
9 | Sexual Ethics Should religious believers allow same-sex marriage? | Buddhist Puja Is meditation the best form of puja for Buddhists? | Medical Ethics Is it ever right to take a life? | Ways of Knowing Religion Is phenomenology the best method to study religions? | Our Origins Is there a conflict between religion and science? | Reflection Ethics / Methodology / Practices |
10 | Religion and Drugs | Greek Philosophy | Religion & the Media | Equality, Prejudice & Discrimination | Good and Evil | Reflection |
11 | Pilgrimage | Japanese Religions | Paganism & New Age Religion | Animal Ethics | ||
Intent:
Religious Studies at Dormston is twofold in its intent:
Academic Study of Religions and Worldviews | Personal Development |
· Enhance an awareness of religious literacy, including building more complex schemas for key concepts (e.g. faith, sacrifice, justice, sacred…) · Utilise an array of disciplinary methods when exploring religions and worldviews (including those from philosophical theological, social science and anthropological pedagogies, and critique through a variety of lenses such as feminism and environmentalism). · Build a complex and deep understanding of worldviews, including religious worldviews (Abrahamic and Dharmic) and non-religious worldviews (e.g. Humanist) that considers the diversity of beliefs and practices found within each worldview. · Become aware of how religious and non-religious beliefs and teachings can have an influence of their adherents (including individually, nationally and globally). · Be able to support religious beliefs and practices with evidence from sacred writing or other sources of religious belief and teaching. | · Develop an awareness of the diversity of religions, worldviews and cultures in the local area and in the wider world. · Learn to formulate arguments, criticisms and persona judgements on a range of religious and non-religious beliefs and practices, using logical chains of reasoning. · Develop the skill of empathy and appreciate how worldviews can influence practices, ethics and other beliefs for an individual. · Reflect on their own worldview and ways of thinking about themselves and the wider world. · Become more open-minded to the opinions and judgements made by others. · Learn from lived experiences of religious and non-religious worldviews. |
GCSE Religious Studies Curriculum Map:
Year | Half Term 1 | Half Term 2 | Half Term 3 | Half Term 4 | Half Term 5 | Half Term 6 |
10 | Theme D: Religion, Peace & Conflict* | Religion 1: Beliefs & Teaching (currently Christianity) | Theme B: Religion and Life* | Religion 2: Beliefs & Teaching (currently Buddhism) | Theme D: Religion, Crime & Punishment* | Reflection |
11 | Religion 1: Practices (currently Christianity) | Religion 2: Practices (currently Buddhism) | Theme A: Relationships & the Family* | Revision |
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*Note: Unless specified the focus of each unit is Christianity (although other religious and non-religious worldviews might also be explored to a lesser extent), ensuring the statutory requirement of ‘wholly and mainly Christian’ is adhered to.
Assessment :
Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9)
Formative assessment across all units in the form of:
Summative assessment of substantive knowledge at the end of each year, assessing knowledge and understanding. These will include 1-mark multiple-choice questions, two-mark questions and 5-mark ‘understanding’ questions that also assess application of religious beliefs and teaching.
Key Stage 4 (Core)
Formative assessment through a range of tasks in workbooks throughout each unit.
Summative assessment in the form of a Forms Quiz assessing knowledge and understanding of the unit, per unit.
Key Stage 4 GCSE Religious Studies (Years 10-11)
Formative assessment across all units in the form of:
Summative assessments:
‘Ways of Learning’ Religion
The predominate pedagogical method for teaching and learning religion is using the phenomenological method. This is to observe and explore religious phenomena (including beliefs and practices) objectively and critically, through respect and empathy. We also explore philosophy of religion where relevant, especially in year 7 units on the existence of God and death and beyond, where philosophy forms the main skill of enquiry. This includes the ethical units. Other ‘ways of knowing’ are explored in a Year 9 unit (anthropology, archaeology, psychology and sociology), and where relevant in certain units (e.g. theology in the Life of Jesus unit, and feminist critique in the Sexual Ethics unit). The aim is that students use these ‘ways of learning’ religion throughout the Key Stage 4 units, both core and GCSE.
Sequencing, Interleaving and Schema Development
Jewish Covenant | Life of Jesus | Life of Buddha | Existence of God | Death & Beyond |
Abrahamic Religions Ceremony Commandments Covenant Festival Holy Land Miracle Monotheism Polytheism Prayer Ritual Sacrifice | Baptism Bible Crucifixion Incarnation Last Supper Messiah Parable Redemption Resurrection (Jesus) Salvation Son of God Trinity | Asceticism Buddha Demon Dharma Dharmic Religions Dukkha Enlightenment Pilgrimage Prophecy Symbol Myth Wisdom | Agnosticism Atheism Benevolence Design First Cause Logic Omnipotence Omniscience Philosophy Problem of Evil Religious Experience Science | Death Heaven Hell Immortality Judgement Karma Moksha Nirvana Paranormal Resurrection of Body Samsara Soul |
RS at Dormston is ‘Intellectually Challenging and Personally Enriching’
Intellectually Challenging | Personally Enriching |
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SEND
All Religious Studies lessons, in both Key Stage 3 and 4, including core KS4 RPE and GCSE RS are mixed ability. Careful planning is required so that SEND students can access the demands of the curriculum, and quality first teaching is pivotal in ensuring all students can achieve their potential.
How do students ‘get better’ at Religious Studies?
All students will progress at RS using the 3 types of knowledge as highlighted below.
Complexity of religious and non-religious beliefs and practices
To ensure that students build u*p a truer and more complex schema of religion, at Dormston we encourage a development of knowledge and understanding of these three worldviews:
Non-Required Work
The following websites are useful for self-study, revision and inspiration for non-required activities at home. You may also find them useful to aid home learning.
(Gives you an overview of each faith tradition, worth having a pre-read to prepare for the in-depth study of religions units).
(Oak National Academy lessons were really useful during the school closures in 2020/21, however many students have found them to be a great additional resource to complement learning in school. All of the Year 9 and 10 units are found in the Key Stage 4 section. For year 7-8 students it is worth looking at the Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 section to find relevant lessons.
YouTube is an invaluable resource with hundreds of revision videos, especially for GCSE. Make sure you type ‘GCSE RS’ or ‘GCSE Religious Studies’ in the search engine to help narrow your search. You may also wish to write ‘AQA’ to find videos that are directly relevant to your specification. Years 7-8 can type in ‘Key Stage 3’ with either ‘Religious Studies’ or ‘Religious Education’ to help find suitable learning videos.
How can Parents/Carers help their child’s learning
In Religious Studies we draw upon current affairs to exemplify the religious, philosophical and ethical topics and issues we explore. Please encourage open and honest discussion about the current affairs, push your child to justify their opinions with examples and reasons, as this is a good skill for our evaluation essays. Film and TV can be a great resource at home to explore such issues. When watching your favourite soap opera, you could explore whether violence was necessary in a certain scene. When watching the news (e.g. on climate change) you could explore how religious believers might contribute to the discussion.
Reading stories and exploring artwork can help the demonstration of the impact belief has had on life issues and culture across our world, in both positive and negative ways. Historically human have shown to act both positively and negatively; we believe that our students are the generation that can learn from the mistakes of those before them, to ensure that there is a society, both locally and worldwide, that will be just and peaceful.
Encourage revision such as watching BBC bitesize/Learning clips (found both on the BBC Bitesize website and YouTube).
Understand that not all people within one tradition believe and act the same. Challenge terms such as ‘All Christians/Muslims/Sikhs/atheists’ etc… as there are always exceptions to the rule. Encourage tolerance and respect for those different to yourself, whether based on race, sex, sexuality, religion and ability.
