Religious, Philosophy and Ethics (RPE)

Religion, Philosophy and Ethics (RPE) - Curriculum Statement of Intent

Caterham High School is connected to the community and through Religion, Philosophy and Ethics education, works towards being relevant to the lives of young people of all faiths and secular traditions. Now, more than ever, it is vital that young people are able to understand themselves within a diverse society so that they are equipped to be active citizens with the confidence to participate with peers whose background can often be different to their own.

The Government's values understanding, tolerance and integration wants to establish an understanding for everyone’s shared aspirations and values. Though this can only come about if we have confidence to learn from those different to ourselves.

At Caterham High School we value the crucial need to know and appreciate our diversity. Religion, Philosophy and Ethics education is an important curriculum subject in its own right, making a unique contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural growth of children and young people, supporting their personal development and well-being and encourages the community to come together.

Throughout our curriculum there is great emphasis on developing the skills of

• Investigation    is important to ask relevant questions.
• Reflection        being able to evaluate what has been learnt.
• Expression       being able to record and communicate this knowledge,
• Empathising     the ability to understand and show the experiences of others.
• Application       use the skills learnt to make links between religious traditions and worldviews

RPE’s aim is to engage pupils in exploring and responding to challenging questions raised by religion, ethical and worldviews, so that they can develop the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, including their own. 

Our curriculum is designed to represent the statutory requirements for Religious, Philosophical Ethical education at Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.  Our teachers have devised an appropriately coherent and challenging curriculum, in order to enable pupils to make good progress in their knowledge, understanding, analysis and evaluative skills. Planning this curriculum has ensured across all key stages, the full breadth of religion, philosophy, ethics and worldviews are covered, supporting the purpose of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics education which includes helping pupils to develop systematic knowledge and understanding. The depth of the curriculum will allow pupils to:

• Investigate and analyse the beliefs and practices of religions and worldviews.
• Synthesise (create) their own and others’ ideas and arguments about sources of wisdom and authority.
• Develop analysis of diversity in the of life found in different religions and worldviews.
• Analyse the influence on individuals and societies of religions and worldviews.
• Assess the commitment to religions and worldviews of identity, diversity, meaning and value of life.
• Argue for and justify their own positions to key questions about the nature of religion.
• Research and evaluate ultimate questions about the purposes of human life.
• Use a range of research methods to examine issues of community cohesion, respect for all and mutual understanding in all communities.
• Research and present a wide range of arguments which engage moral, religious and spiritual issues.

Our curriculum is designed to be flexible in allowing units that explore challenging questions, topics, past or current issues through a mix of systematic and thematic study, encouraging depth rather than breadth.

Recognising that there is great diversity within and between religious traditions we expose our students to understand how beliefs can shape a person’s everyday life, through the development of practices, ways of living, virtues, values and commitments. Through our principle of culture capital our students have the opportunity to encounter people of faith, belief and secular organisations. Creating opportunities for students to recognise the kinds of questions that are raised by human experience and addressed in different ways by the religions and worldviews studied and experienced. Showing the lives of believers in a tradition rather than a set of beliefs shows their faith is a way of life not just adhering to religious doctrine.

Religion, Philosophy and Ethics (RPE) education is for all. Our consistently good quality of teaching in RPE has devised a curriculum to the special needs of all pupils. RPE provision for our SEND and HIP pupils will vary but all pupils are included in RPE.

Ultimately our students will extend and deepen their knowledge and understanding of a range of religions, philosophies, ethical and worldviews in systematic ways. They will reflect and use a wide range of subject key words. They will understand how beliefs influence the values and lives of people and politics. Our pupils will be able to judge the practices and beliefs of what they study using many skills such as analysis, interpretation and evaluation. This will develop their ability to communicate their personal view, which will help them in the real world.  At Caterham High School, through the influence of RPE, our ‘can do’ culture in which everyone is encouraged to strive for excellence is not just a vision it’s our mission to achieve for every pupil.

At Key Stage 3, students study the following:

At Key Stage 4, you can read about the courses on offer in our Options Booklet

2023 Year 9 Options Booklet

At Key Stage 5, you can read about the courses on offer in our Sixth Form Prospectus

For more detailed information about our RPE curriculum, please email the subject leader Ms S Saddique at s.saddique@ecaterham.net