The Religious Studies Department at Oakwood Park Grammar School
Ideal Candidates
RS at OPGS is a well-respected and popular subject in the school. Last year the department was awarded the Gold RE Quality Mark. Students are engaged, enthusiastic, and inquisitive and enjoy debating current issues and controversial topics. The successful candidate would need to be confident in their subject knowledge. As a department we are ideally looking for an enthusiastic Philosophy specialist but this is not essential.
Whilst we are looking for a full-time candidate, we are open-minded if the right candidate would prefer to work part time. In addition, we would be very open to the possibility of appointing a strong and enthusiastic candidate who is looking to complete their NQT year.
Key Stage 5
We teach Cambridge Pre-U Philosophy and Theology (9774). The topics we study within this are Philosophy of Religion and Ethics. Philosophy is a well-liked and respected Pre-U at OPGS – we have twoclasses per year group. The new teacher would be expected to teach some of the PhilosophyEthicscourse in Years 12 and 13 – preferably Philosophy of Religion though there is certainly scope for flexibility in this.
Our Pre-U results have been some of the best in the school over the past few years. The department was listed twice in the Good Schools Guide.
Key Stage 4
All students in years 9, 10 and 11 follow a Full Course GCSE in Religious Studies. Each year group has three hours per fortnight of RS at KS4. Current year 10 students are the last year group to follow the Edexcel 2009 syllabus. Students study Unit 2 Religion and Life based on a study of Christianity and Unit 11 Islam.
We are undecided about which GCSE to follow in light of the reforms and new specifications being published. This decision will be made as soon as all specifications from the exam boards have been accredited. We are currently following the guidance from the DfE on the religions of Christianity and Islam with year 9 students.
Results at GCSE are consistently high. In 2015 students received 46% A*/A and 70% A*-B.
Key Stage 3
KS3 Religious Education at OPGS is condensed into Years 7 and 8, and all students get two hour of teaching per fortnight. We broadly follow the Kent Agreed Syllabus, although we adapt it to stretch and challenge our students as much as possible, and prefer to create our own teaching resources rather than always follow textbooks.The topics we study are Sikhism, Life of Jesus, Ultimate Questions, Hinduism, History of the Christian Church, Buddhism, Religious Rebels, Science and Religion & War and Peace.