Religious Studies
About the Department
Our aim is to help pupils to develop their personal spiritual integrity within an increasingly crowded and competitive religious marketplace.
The Religious Studies department comes under the larger umbrella of the chaplaincy. All Senior School RS classes and the top three years at the Nippers are taught by the Chaplain. At present, RS is taught by class teachers up to Nipper year 5. As children progress up the school, the approach to RS becomes more issue-based.
Teaching and learning
A GCSE course in Religious Studies is undertaken by all pupils in the 3rd and 4th forms at Loretto. The content is delivered in one lesson per week over these two years. We pursue the AQA short course GCSE qualification, with all candidates sitting the specification B module 2 exam on Key Beliefs, Ultimate Questions and Life Issues. We therefore provide all pupils with the opportunity to sit a proper GCSE examination a year early. This stands them in good stead for their other exams, which will mostly be taken in the 5th form.
In the 5th form, RS is approached along much more leisurely and discursive lines. Pupils are encouraged to voice their own opinions at all stages.
In the Nippers, a more story-based approach is taken to RS, although always with a view to life application and personal development.
Activities
The RS department runs parallel to the chaplaincy and thus a multiplicity of extra-curricular activities are open to pupils.
Each year, a number of pupils attend confirmation classes and are confirmed by the Bishop at a service in the school chapel.
A variety of forms of worship take place each week, from the whole-school singing of the Sunday Chapel service to the tranquility of Evening Reflections on a Thursday night. The chaplaincy centre is always open to visitors and many pupils take the opportunity to drop in for a chat and a cuppa.
The school is firmly plumbed in to the popular Powerpoint celebrations over at St. Thomas' Church in Edinburgh.
What Pupils Say
“I look forward to this lesson, it’s a chance to be yourself.”
Rev. Andrew Keulemans (Chaplain and Head of Department)
Andy studied Agricultural Food Marketing at UCW Aberystwyth gaining a BSc. (Yes, degrees do come as specific as that!). Eschewing a life of beer promotion he trained for the Christian ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham. Andrew holds a BTh from the University of Nottingham. He spent eight years in parish ministry in North Wales before joining the staff at Loretto where he says he feels “like a square peg in a square hole”. He likes football (Rochdale) and music (Frank Black, Fountains of Wayne), coaches one of the girls’ lacrosse teams and sings in the staff band. He is much better looking in real life.