Religious Studies

The principal aim of RE is to engage students in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.

A-Level Religious Studies at Sale Grammar School 

Specification - Information about the AQA course we offer can be found at:
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/religious-studies/as-and-a-level

AS Level: Religious Studies AS is a one-year course involving  two  components  which  are  both examined at the end of the year.

Component 1: Philosophy and Ethics

In Philosophy students will study: Arguments for the Existence of God - Design, Ontological and Cosmological, the Problem of Evil, Religious Experience.

In Ethics students will study: Virtue Ethics with reference to Aristotle, Natural Moral Law with reference to Saint Thomas Aquinas , Situation Ethics with reference to Fletcher plus the application of these theories to human life and death in addition to non-human life and death.

Component 2: Christianity

For the chosen religion, students will study: Sources of wisdom and authority, Ultimate Reality, Self, death  and  the  afterlife,  Good  conduct  and  key moral principles , Expressions of religious identity.

A-Level

Religious Studies A-Level is a two year course and builds on the units previously studied in Year 12.There are two examinations at the end of Year 13. Students will be expected to answer four questions on each paper in 3 hours.

Component 1:

In Philosophy students will study: Religious Language, Verifying Religious Experience, Miracles, Self, Death and the Afterlife.

In Ethics students will study: Meta ethics, Freewill and  Moral  Responsibility,  Conscience,  Bentham and Kant. There will two compulsory two-part questions on each section.

Component 2:

In Theology (Christianity) students will study: Expressions of religious identity, Christian attitudes to gender and sexuality, Christianity and science, Christianity and the challenge of secularisation, Christian migration and religious pluralism. There will two compulsory two-part questions on each section.

There will also be a paper which covers the dialogue between Christianity in relation to both Ethics and Philosophy. There will be one synoptic question on each.

Results: 2020—100% pass rate with 100% students achieving A*/B grade.