Every boy has Religious Studies for one or two periods a week, and in Years 4 - 8 these lessons are delivered by a specialist teacher. Early on we introduce topics such as world religions, philosophy and ethics, and we spend a term comparing Old Testament stories with earlier stories on the same themes from Mesopotamia. In Years 6 - 8 boys follow the Common Entrance syllabus, which has sections on Old Testament, New Testament and World Religions. We make a detailed study of Buddhism and Christianity as representative eastern and western religions.
The approach adopted is sympathetically objective rather than confessional. No one position or religion is assumed to be right, Christianity is not assumed to be the norm, and arguments for agnosticism and atheism are also presented in depth. The boys are encouraged to acquire a nuanced understanding of what it means to follow a religion, and to make up their own minds as to the value of this. It is usual for followers of all the world religions, agnostics and convinced atheists alike, to find the Religious Studies course interesting, informative, stimulating and also challenging on both an intellectual and a personal level.