“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”
(Martin Luther King Junior)

Our Ethos
Students study Philosophy & Ethics during the whole time they are at Stradbroke. It is an exciting and relevant subject that covers many issues and debates in the news. It raises awareness of different races and religions and it teaches our students to think more critically. It gives them the ability to argue their own point of view as well as to appreciate and respect different opinions. To achieve a high level and grade in this subject, students must be able to express their own ideas with good reasons, backing up what they think with examples or evidence.

Our schemes of work are written in line with the Suffolk Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, and provide an interesting and challenging course of study.

Year 7
In Year 7 the students follow an introduction to the subject with a scheme called ‘Being Human’ which takes a look at what makes humans different to other animals, beliefs about how the world originated and whether humans have a soul. They will also study Sikhism for a term, learning to appreciate the challenges of being part of a religion. In the third term they will look at the whole philosophical debate about whether God exists and how different religions present their ideas of God.

Recent philosophical questions from Year 7:  "If God is in heaven - does that mean he is dead?"  "What is the purpose of life?"  "If God exists, why did my Dad die before I was born?"  "How did we end up with the theory of religion?"  Excellent questions that show the Year 7 students are using their thinking skills!

Year 8
In Year 8 the students study Buddhism for a term, focussing on the question of how to live a good life and overcome suffering. They are taught to think critically about Buddhist ideas for themselves and they will have the opportunity to express their ideas creatively. They will also study basic Christian ethics for a term and focus on the topic of Racism, looking at both the historical context as well as recent tensions in the news.

Year 9
Year 9 is a preparation for the GCSE and all topics will lay a solid foundation for the following two years. They will study Peace and Conflict, and ideas such as whether it is ever right to go to war or use nuclear weapons. They will then study a philosophical unit looking at arguments for and against God’s existence, the continuing debate between religion and science and the problem of suffering. The third topic covers ethical issues relating to the right to life and includes the issues of abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering and capital punishment.

Religious Studies GCSE

The Religious Studies GCSE is an interesting and relevant Edexcel Course based around the study of ethical issues facing individuals and society today.  This is an option subject and takes two years with two final exams in May of Year 11. The first course has four units and builds on knowledge gained in Year 9.  It is called Religion and Life.  The students study a philosophical unit on ‘Belief in God’, an ethical unit on ‘Life and Death’, a unit dealing with ‘Marriage and Relationships’ and one called ‘Community Cohesion’ that looks at racism. This course focuses on Christian ethics.

The second course also has four units and is called Religion and Society. The first unit deals with rights and responsibilities such as human rights and genetic engineering. The second topic looks at medical and environmental issues. The other two units focus on peace and conflict and crime and punishment. In this course the focus is on Christian and Muslim ethics.

In the GCSE, half of the marks are awarded to the students for explaining their own opinions and half for displaying knowledge and understanding of the religions and issues studied. 

Positive Attitudes and Results
We are very proud of the positive attitude among students to the subject and believe this is because of the interesting and relevant issues that the students can study. They are encouraged to express their own opinions, knowing that often they cannot be wrong, providing they can give good reasons for their ideas. We are also very proud of our recent GCSE results and look forward to excellent results in the future.