The Abbey Grammar School
77a, Ashgrove Road
Newry
Co Down, BT34 1QN
N Ireland
+44 (0) 28 3026 3142
In the Abbey, Religious Studies is taught from Year 8 to Year 14. It is a core subject compulsory from year 8- 12.
At KS3 we follow the Fully Alive programme along with our own innovative power points and interactive lessons. Our focus as a department is to engage our pupils and ensure they enjoy coming to Religion class. At the beginning of each school Year , the RS teacher liaises with Mrs Farrell, our spiritual director to organise a Mass with each junior class.
Every year our KS3 pupils take part in the ‘Good Samaritan Shoe box’ appeal. Mrs Mc Keever leads this with the help of Mrs Joy Baird from the ‘Shoebox Appeal’. This year our shoe boxes went to Romania.
Every January, the team of RS teachers spend one week celebrating ‘Catholic Schools Week.’ We display the amazing work that our pupils produce on the RS notice boards. This is an opportunity to take time out of our normal curriculum work just to focus on the fact that we are a Catholic School and acknowledge that this is something to be proud of.
Every Easter Miss Bardon organises an Easter card competition with year 8’s. This competition has proved to be a great success. The winning card is brought down to the local nursing home and distributed to all those in residence there.
We have studied CCEA GCSE RS in the Abbey for many years. This course is a Modular GCSE course with pupils completing 50% of their exam at the end of Year 11 and the following 50% at the end of Year 12. The content is as follows:
Christianity through a Study of the Gospel of Mark (Unit 5)
A’ Level
Board: CCEA
Students can take:
• The AS course as a final qualification; or
• The AS units plus the A2 units for a full GCE A Level qualification.
What RS is about:
AS 7: Foundations of Ethics with Special Reference to Medical Ethics at AS Level:
• Deontological Approaches to Moral Decision Making, Teleological Approaches to
Moral Decision making, Life and Death Issues, Developments in Bioethics, Other
Aspects of Human Experience
AS 4: The Origins and Development of the Early Church to AD 325
• The development of the Early Church, Developing Christian belief and practice,
Early Christian writers, Constantine and the Church, Other aspects of human
experience
A2 7: Global Ethics
• Moral Theology, Global Rights, Global Issues, Synoptic Assessment Theme:
Conscience, Freedom and Tolerance
A2 4: Themes in the Early Church and the Church today
• Church authority and division, Early Christian literature, Belief and belonging in
the modern world, Synoptic Assessment Theme: Faith, Morality and the State.
Assessment Opportunities:
AS Level:
One 1hour 20 minutes paper (Medical Ethics) 20% of
overall A Level
One 1 hour 20 minutes paper (Early Church) 20% of
overall A Level
A2 Level:
Two Hour paper (Ethics) 30% of A2
Two Hour paper (Early Church) 30% of A2
Each paper is worth 30% of A2 but overall 60%each of A
Level
Pupils will answer 3 questions on each paper. The third
question on each paper will be a synoptic question based
on a specific theme.
Career Opportunities:
This subject is recognised by all third level institutions as a well-developed Arts based Advanced
Level option.
Recent RE A Level Graduates have gone on to study –
Architecture, Actuary, Accounts, Finance, Quantity Surveying, Chemical Engineering, Law,
Psychology, History, Law with Politics, Software Engineering, Radiography, Teaching St Mary’s,
Geography, Criminology & Social Policy, Construction Engineering, History, Social Work,
Philosophy, Film & TV Studies, ICT, Sports Science, Finance, Environmental Planning & Business
Management
Miss Gemma Mc Court from Trocaire visited the Abbey Grammar to hold an Assembly with pupils in Yr 8,9 and 10. Organised by Mrs Lisa Mc Keever (RE HOD).
The annual ‘Samaritan Purse’ Shoebox appeal. All pupils in Yrs 8-10 have been asked to bring in a shoebox, wrapped in Christmas paper and filled with goodies! These shoeboxes should to be brought in before Halloween.
LG14
Head of Department
LG11
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