The moral and spiritual welfare of the children is a top priority in the Department, not just as a by-product of the academic syllabus, but also with the specific intention of creating a foundation for adulthood. This reflects the school's wider ethos; to achieve an informal and friendly approach to school life, and to combine this with the discipline which enables all pupils to reach their full potential.

In the lower two years, we aim to provide a thorough grounding in Biblical studies to ease the path of the pupils throughout their school careers in RS. In Form One there is a particular focus on the social, political, geographical and religious context of Jesus, followed by the study of key New Testament stories. The Removes are taught a selection of appropriate Old Testament narratives in preparation for more in-depth Top Year study.

The school aims to provide the academic and social grounding which is the foundation for sustained success. In addition to this, it is the RS Department's belief that the subject has an important role not only in terms of academic development, but also in the personal and social sphere. Since the school does not set an entry exam, and has a reputation for excellent support where children have learning difficulties, the versatility of RS allows for those children with lower academic ability to explore issues and ideas beyond the purely scholastic Biblical Studies element.

Teaching for the three upper years is largely based on the Common Entrance Syllabus, with a view to preparing the children thoroughly for both their Leavers' examinations and RS in their future schools. For the top two years, particularly the scholarship groups, syllabus set texts are regularly used as a jumping off point from which to discuss basic contemporary moral and ethical issues. This allows children of all academic abilities, but particularly those with an especial aptitude for philosophy and ethics, to explore a wide range of exciting and sometimes contentious topics. Despite the adult nature of some of these topics, the RS Department feels confident that it approaches the issues in a relaxed and empathetic manner, without losing the formal structure and discipline of the classroom. Older children will, we hope, take with them a sound moral value system of situation ethics as they move on to senior school and adulthood.