Religious Studies
Angus Hamilton - Head of Department
Revd. Robert Blackhall - School Chaplain
Eizabeth Laycock
Religious Studies at Queen's College is an integral part of the life of the school, which has a Christian, and Methodist foundation and is one of 16 Methodist schools in Great Britain and Ireland.
The founders of Queen's College included Religious Studies as a fundamental part of the curriculum from the beginning, supported by rigorous academic testing, and it remains so today.
Although the intake of the school varies in terms of denominations and students come into the school from a wide variety of backgrounds, Christian and non-Christian, Religious Studies continues to occupy a major part in the core curriculum in Pre-Prep, Junior and Senior schools.
The department has three major teaching rooms, one specifically for Sixth Form studies. It is equipped with a good library. We make extensive use of religious artefacts particularly in Years 7 and 8. Two RS teaching rooms are equipped with TV and Video, and there is a department DVD available. In one room extensive use is made of an interactive white board. The sixth form room also contains a PC. The department makes good use of a variety of tools for teaching, video, interactive white board, DVD and PowerPoint Presentations. The department is constantly expanding the work it does with IT.
In the Senior school, Religious Studies is a core-curriculum subject in Years 7-9.
KS3
In Years 7 and 8 pupils study aspects of World Religions. In Year 9 we offer a course in the three core areas of RS. The first is Ethics, where we consider the Environment and relationships. The second we call Ultimate Questions which seeks to consider questions such as "Who and I? And "Does God exist?". The third area is Biblical studies we look at the life of Jesus from Mark's Gospel and how this effects Christian belief today.
GCSE - Ethics and Philosophy
The course is on offer through the Options and is entitled Ethics and Philosophy. The course looks at 6 topics under each heading. In Ethics, Religion and Human Relationships, Religion and Medical Ethics, Religion, Poverty and Wealth, Religion Peace and Justice, Religion and Equality, Religion and the Media. In Philosophy, Beliefs about deity, Religious and Spiritual Experience, The end of Life, Good and Evil, Religion. Reason and Revelation and Religion and Science. This course helps the pupils to learn about the approaches of religion and ethics to some of the most important questions about how people behave. It also allows the pupils to study some of the fundamental questions about human existence. This leads to a full GCSE in RS.
A level - Ethics and Philosophy
Ethics and Philosophy is offered as both an AS and 'A' Level option. The course allows the students an opportunity to think through some of the serious issues of human existence and some of the key Ethical debates that face us in everyday life. The students study such topics as, Situation Ethics, Natural Moral Law, Ethical Language, The Design Argument, Life after Death and Religious Language.
Pupils have found Ethics and Philosophy a useful part of their Sixth Form studies. Recent 'A' Level candidates have gone on to study Law, Philosophy, PPE, as well as Theology itself at university.
The Chaplain is also involved in the Christian Union and the annual Confirmation Class.
