Poverty and Charity

Year 11 Philosophy and Ethics - Students have been studying Poverty and considering their responses to this question:-

Do you agree that it is good to be told to help the poor? Give reasons for your answer.

Year 11 Ethics

As part of their Philosophy and Ethics programme of study, Year 11 have been studying Euthanasia. One of their projects was to design a children's hospice. Jay Thapar designed a fantastic hospice specifically for children with a Disney theme.

Hindu Worship

Year 10 have been finding out about how Hindus worship at home. In their lesson they created a shrine and learnt about each of the objects and what they mean to Hindus. Great work folks!

Year 10 homework

Here is your question on worship set for homework. Just like last time please leave a comment to answer!

'Religious people should worship at a temple, mosque or church. ' Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view. (6 marks)

Marriage

GCSE short course students have been looking at marriage. They were asked to think about their own beliefs concerning marriage. Fatima from Year 10 came up with this excellent answer. Also special thanks to Miss Madden for sharing one of her wedding photos (she got married in the summer to Phil).


My View on Marriage by Fatima.

Personally, I have always believed that marriage is a wonderful process. My ethnicity and in particular, my religious upbringing have influenced me and what my religion teaches about marriage is beautiful. I am a Muslim and Islam says that marriage is not only a union between two people, but between two families. Marriage is described as an “institution” that provides a solid foundation for happy and strong relationship. Islam also states that both partners are equal and marriage should not trap women.

I believe that marriage creates the stability that is needed for a strong family unit. I think that it creates a lot of security: ending a marriage is more time consuming because of the divorce procedures. Financially, marriage is more durable because both partners can support each other. For example, single mothers may struggle to raise children and work on their own.

Marriage can bring out the best in someone. Throughout the course of marriage a person may become more responsible and mature as he or has to deal with dilemmas such as births, financial issues and health related problems. I think that these dilemmas can help both partners to work together and therefore marriage encourages teamwork. Some situations can not be helped by either partner and often in these situations a person may have to fulfil their spouse’s emotional needs. This may increase the person’s emotional intelligence.

I believe that growing old with same person can leave you with great memories and a lot of happiness. There will always be someone with you in your old age.

On the other hand, it is often argued that marriage can trap a person in a loveless marriage because of their responsibilities towards their children and their home. Feminists may say that marriage takes away the identity of a woman as well as her freedom and independence.

Sometimes, one spouse may physically and mentally abuse the other and get away with it because of the difficulty of escaping marriage. The legal system may aid abusive spouses because of the marriage status. For example, if a man hit a woman on the street, he would probably be arrested and accused of physical assault. However, a man may be able to escape the law if he assaulted his wife. There have been cases in the past in which people who killed their spouse have walked freely out of court.

Some people do not believe in marriage because of the commitment it involves. For example, the vows that Christian couples take include staying with someone through “sickness and health.” Many modernists believe that they only live once and that they should satisfy themselves and seek personal happiness.

Year 8 Work

Year 8 students have been thinking about ultimate questions. They were asked to think about life after death and if we have a soul. Some excellent work was produced by students who were asked to draw their soul - not an easy challenge!

Tahsin thought her soul looked like this:



She wrote: 'I think my soul looks like this because it symbolises what I am like. The smile represents that I am happy and lively, the way I have done my hair means that I am neat sometimes ans messy other times, the dollar sign in my eyes means that I like to spend money on clothes and shoes'

Alisha drew this:



She said: 'I do not think there is a soul (so you can't live on) but I do think people will remember you.... that's not the same as being alive'

Harneet had this idea:



She said: 'This is what I think my soul is like. All the different colours represent different emotions. They are mixed up because that is what I feel like inside. If I was a completely happy person it would be just colours that are bright, but there are somethings in my life that are not happy therefore I have grey lines in my sou. These represent pain, hatred, anger and all the other bad emotions'

Jordan said: 'I couldn't draw the soul because it is see through so you cannot see it - that is my opinion. When my grandad died my mum was with him and a gust of wind blew out the window and my mum and family believe it was his soul. And that is why you cannot see it because it is a spirit'

Finally Tony came up with this:



He said: 'My soul should be a smiley face because I am quite a happy person'

Great ideas from everyone - well done!

Open Evening

Tonight is the school's open evening. The RE department are asking people to think about ultimate questions. Firstly if we have a soul, where in the human body can you find it. The chest and head are the most popular choices.
We also have displays of religious artefacts and foods from around the world to try.

We are all having a great evening, although Miss Madden and Ms Lucas may be getting a bit silly......

GCSE Philosophy and Ethics

Welcome Year 10 - this is the post you will need to comment on for your homework task this week. In our lesson today we were looking at Brahman and the Hindu Trimurti. We also spent a bit of time exploring exam technique. When you write your comment, imagine that you are answering a Part e) question, but only for 6 marks not 12. (remember this is AO2 and is all about debate, discussion, different viewpoints and reasoned arguments.) Here goes!

'Trying to understand God is impossible.' Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view. Refer to Hinduism in you answer.

OK - so you will need to say if you agree or disagree with the quote. Feel free to bring in your own beliefs and opinions here. You will also need to give an opposite opinion. It is really important also that you talk a bit about Brahman (the Hindu supreme being) and the Hindu deities being aspects of Brahman. (remember the example of the sand?)

Good luck!

Ms Lucas

New Term

Welcome back everyone! We hope you had a great summer and have settled back into school. Here are some pictures of Year 7 Humanities work so far.

Exam Results

RE students have had an amazing set of GCSE, AS and A level results. Firstly A level with 100% of students achieving an A-E grade. 55% achieved an A or B grade. Moving on to AS, 88.6% of students achieved an A-E grade and 45.7% achieved an A or B grade. Fantastic - well done to you all!
The RE department runs three different GCSE courses and all did very well. The full course Philosophy and Ethics group achieved 100% A-G grades, with 75% achieving A*-C. The twilight Religion and Life full course achieved an amazing 100% at A* or A grade!
Finally the Religion and Life short course taken by the majority of Year 11 students achieved a staggering 99% of students gaining an A*-G and 78% of students achieving A*-C.
A huge congratulations to you all!

Diversity

More photos on the theme of diversity. Thanks to year 12 for taking these!

Spirited Arts

Every year the National Association of Teachers of RE runs an art competition for students aged 5 to 18. More details can be found here. Students from all classes and years took part and seven school finalists have been chosen to represent Finham Park in the national finals. Congratulations to Charlotte B, Victoria, Katrina, Alice, Charlotte O, Serina and Nataya. Good luck to you all in the next round of the competition!

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog of The RE department at Finham Park School. Our aim is to use this blog as a resource to help with student learning, as a way of allowing students, staff and parents see what the RE department is up to and as a way of showcasing student work and achievement. There will be regular posts displaying work, links and information for A level and GCSE classes, guest writers and blog posts written by students. To start us off here are a few pictures of the RE classrooms and corridor. The displays were created for the inter department display competition. Many thanks to all those students who contributed!

C24 with the theme of Diversity:




C25 with the theme of 'Show Racism the Red Card':




C Block:





That's all for now but look out for a new post soon!