Curriculum Intent for Philosophy, Citizenship and RE

Philosophy at Meopham School aims to engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions. These are then explored through religious and non-religious worldviews, so that they can develop their understanding of local and international communities around them. Pupils will have the skills needed to appreciate and appraise the diverse views within Britain and the wider world. The fundamental purpose behind our curriculum is to install a passion for the subject within our students and encourage them to be curious, evaluate information, and ask questions about the world around them. We want them to be able to explore the big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can make sense of religion and reflect on their own ideas and ways of living. Additionally, we seek to develop their strength of character and cross-curricular skills, preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of later life; as individuals, key-stage 4 students, and beyond.

Our Philosophy curriculum is structured as a spiralling curriculum that gradually builds on and revisits a range of religious and non-religious worldviews throughout their time at Meopham. Each year students will delve deeper into each religion and tackle progressively more complex philosophical questions, building up their understanding and appreciation with increasing levels of detail and more challenging global questions.

The time dedicated to each worldview is proportional to the diversity of the local community based on data provided by the Kent Agreed Syllabus. The majority of time is dedicated to Christianity, Sikhism and non-religious views to reflect the beliefs of the local community, however, this is interwoven with a diverse range of other worldviews to better the students' understanding of the global community around them.

We begin every lesson with a planned memory retrieval starter that is adapted to address known misconceptions, using different forms of self-quizzing.This is based on research from cognitive science and pedagogical understanding that suggests retrieval practice coupled with clear metacognitive approaches can have a large impact on students ability to remember and recall.  This ensures that students are building resilience in their learning through ‘healthy struggle’ and ‘desirable difficulties’. This also gives them understanding of the topics and concepts they have not fully mastered and allows for reflection on what is needed to ensure these knowledge gaps are addressed. Teachers will allow students time to self-correct when completing retrieval activities and this allows students to be responsive in terms of checking understanding with their teacher and clarifying misconceptions. 

National curriculum coverage

The curriculum is designed around the Kent Agreed Syllabus to ensure that students engage with worldviews in three main strands; believing, expressing and living. The purpose of this is to challenge students through the use of significant human questions which can be used to consider a wide range of different religious and non-religious perspectives.

The worldviews covered are proportional to the diversity of the local community based on data provided by the Kent Agreed Syllabus. The majority of time is dedicated to Christianity, Sikhism and non-religious views to reflect the beliefs of the local community, however, this is interwoven with a diverse range of other worldviews to better the students' understanding of the global community around them.

Our Philosophy curriculum at Meopham Schools is centred around an ambitious ethos for excellence and supporting all students, regardless of their barriers to learning, to challenge themselves and achieve their full potential.

The Philosophy department implements this through the use of the Meopham School House Style. We use RAG (Red, Amber, Green) cards to challenge students and encourage student-led differentiation, as well as assessing the learning in the room. In addition to this, we operate random questioning which ensures that all students are included.