Agenda item

Julie Webber confirmed that she had joined Theale Green School as a newly qualified teacher 14 years ago and had become Head of Department in 2018.

Theale Green offered both a GCSE and A Level in Religious Education. The GCSE would include extended writing and evaluation and pupils were supported with this skill right from Year 7. There did appear to be some disparity from what pupils had looked at in regards to religious education in primary schools from what was covered in the secondary school. There seemed to be a mixture of content between schools but Julie Webber confirmed that some improvements in this area was now being seen. Staff at Theale Green were trying to go out to Primary Schools to look at what was being done in terms of teaching religious education to ensure that there was more consistency.

The GCSE in Religious Education was now an options subject and Julie Webber confirmed that Theale Green still had a reasonable number of students choosing it – indeed a quarter of pupils in Year 10 had chosen to take this GCSE. 94% of pupils taking the GCSE had achieved a grade of 4+ (C). The GCSE included Ethics and Philosophy. A particular challenge was supporting those less able pupils with the evaluation and analysis element which carried 15 marks. Hinduism was also an area which was challenging as there seemed to be a lack of resources for revision guides. She stated that Theale Green had put together their own revision guide. It was hoped that a trip could be arranged next year to Neasden or Reading Mandir. Councillor Tony Linden asked if it would be possible to obtain more information from Hindu’s in the UK or from Universities. Julie Webber replied that she had used RE online which was quite a good resource. Clare Nolan also stated that she had attended seminars at various Conferences and had taken away resources which might be useful.

At A Level standard Theale Green had six pupils in Year 12 and eight in Year 13 taking Religious Education and it was hoped that numbers would improve in the following year. One of the challenges here was that Christian Theology had recently been introduced with only one teacher who was able to deliver it and therefore timing was an issue.

Mary Stagg queried whether there was a difference between non-church and church schools in terms of the delivery of religious education. Julie Webber confirmed that there was a difference with the church schools having a more positive attitude.

David Taylor said that it was good to see that the best results in the school had been in RE and it was noted that they had even been better than in PE.

Sue Dey asked what kind of resources was required in relation to Hinduism. Julie Webber confirmed that the school had made its own revision guide but it was not in depth and she had had to search around to find any information. David Rees confirmed that he would let Julie have some ideas in this area.

Val Bolan noted that the A Level included some very meaty subjects. Julie Webber agreed that it was a big jump from GCSE and the evaluation and analysis essay increased from 15 to 40 marks.

Bernard Eggleton queried whether there were any cross curricular links with other subjects such as History. Julie Webber confirmed that there were links with History and English in particular i.e. Ann Franks Diary and Passion plays.

David Taylor thanked Julie Webber for her presentation and he felt that it was particularly good to see the links with primary schools being strengthened.