Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Religious Studies September 2026 subject update!
Hello Colleagues,
Welcome back to school! We hope your 2026 academic year is off to a great start. We want to share this update which contains professional development events and teaching resources to enhance your classroom experience. Whether you’re a new or experienced teacher, our resources are here to support your success. Let’s make this year fantastic together!
Best wishes,
Jenna Wyatt
Religious Studies Subject Advisor
September's update includes:
Grade boundaries identify marks required to achieve each grade. They are set for each exam series to ensure answers of the same quality achieve the same grade across series. These vary year on year due to a range of factors and this is the same for all subjects. This is expected as each paper is looked at individually based on its questions/answers and the cohort that year.
Grade boundaries for each paper are set by senior examiners who check the quality of students’ responses at key boundaries.
You can see grade boundaries for each exam series on our website by selecting the appropriate qualification:
ResultsPlus is our free online results analysis tool, that gives you a detailed breakdown of your students’ performance in Pearson Edexcel exams.
It provides you with the most detailed analysis available of your students’ performance. ResultsPlus will help you to identify topics and skills where your students could benefit from further learning – helping them gain a deeper understanding of their subject.
Teachers can sign into ResultsPlus using their Edexcel Online username and password if their account profile has ResultsPlus access granted by the Exams Officer.
Examiner Reports can be obtained from ResultsPlus by following the steps below:
You can also use our free Access to Scripts service to view your candidates’ marked exam scripts online or download as a PDF. It is available from results day until the 11 December 2026
Providing a rich source of information, you can use this service to help make decisions about requesting a review of marking, but it can also help inform future teaching and learning and gives insights and visibility that performance data alone cannot provide.
If scripts have been marked ‘traditionally’ (ie not online), you will need to request them, free of charge, by 11 December 2026, via the Post Results section of Edexcel Online as in previous exam series.
Note, you will need 'Exam viewer' in your Edexcel Online profile if you want to download candidate scripts from results day. Please ask your Exams Officer if you need this adding to your profile.
Discover more about Access to Scripts, along with FAQs and a step-by-step User Guide.
"An excellent service, we have used it to inform our teaching"
Take a look at the Access to Scripts case studies to see how a number of schools and colleges have been using this service to evaluate how their students performed in the exams, identify skills gaps, help tailor future teaching plans and to develop staff CPD.
Please note, candidate consent is required before requesting script copies, as per section 4.2 of the JCQ's Post-results services guide. Candidate consent can only be obtained after results have been published.
As you prepare for results day, take a look at our post-results support guide to help you find the information you need to understand and analyse your students’ results, and what you can do if you have any queries about grading or marking.
Understanding your students' results
The deadline for requesting a Review of marking and moderation (ROMM) is 24 September 2026 for GCSE and A level (Service 1, 2 and 3).
Please speak to your Exams Officer if you wish to proceed with a review of marking. Exams officers should contact their Centre Account Specialist on 0344 463 2535 if they require guidance or watch our post results video. All applications for reviews of marking must be submitted through Edexcel Online.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of a review of marking, you may wish to appeal against the decision. We will allow the head of centre (or designated member of the centre’s senior management team or examinations manager) 30 calendar days from the receipt of the outcome of the review of marking, during which an appeal may be lodged by filling in the form below. All appeals must be submitted by the entering centre. We cannot accept appeals directly from candidates, their parents or other third parties acting on their behalf. The only exception to this is if private candidates are appealing directly without the support of the entering centre. There is further guidance on appeals on our website.
GCSE Religious Studies A and B Exam Insights Summer 2026 events are now ready to book onto!
These training events are for teachers of Pearson Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies and provides feedback and insights on the summer 2026 exam series. The sessions will identify key observations related to candidate performance highlighted in the examiner report and provides strategies to help with your planning for the year ahead.
GCSE Religious Studies A: Exam Insights Summer 2026 - 12 October at 16:30 – 18:00 BST
GCSE Religious Studies B: Exam Insights Summer 2026 - 15 October at 16:30 – 18:00 BST
Book on for GCSE Religious Studies A
Book on for GCSE Religious Studies B
Please note, the A level Exam Insights session will be delivered as a pre-recording, available in the autumn term. Further details will be shared closer to the release date.
This free online training supports teachers delivering Pearson Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A or B. The session focuses on marking past examination questions, with the trainer demonstrating how to accurately apply the mark scheme and sharing practical hints and tips to support effective assessment.
You will:
• learn how to accurately apply the mark scheme
• build confidence in the marking of mock assessments
• be provided with useful hints and tips to help you to improve your marking and provide better feedback to your students.
23 November 2026 at 16:30 – 18:00 GMT
This online training is designed for teachers teaching or who are looking to teach the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Religious Studies Specification.
The focus of this training will be on planning and teaching the course, understanding the assessment and preparing students, exploring how the content is assessed by reviewing the assessment objectives and mark schemes, practise applying the mark schemes using exemplar student work, as well as an overview of the support available.
14 October 2026 at 9:00 – 12:00 BST
This online training is designed for teachers teaching the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Religious Studies.
The focus of this session will be on the assessment of the specification, exploring how assessments are structured for the qualification and how your teaching can be adapted to help your students’ performance on examination papers.
18 November 2026 at 9:00 – 12:00 GMT
Every month, we release an edition of 'Topic of the Month' with the aim of supporting cultural capital and stimulating discussion within the classroom.
This resource ties a current news event to our qualification content and enables students to see the bigger picture of what they are learning and how it relates to the world around them. Each edition includes a link to an article alongside some key discussion questions to encourage thought around the subject.
July's topic relates to the influence of religious faith on emotional wellbeing and societal happiness in modern Britain. Are people of faith happier?
August's topic relates to the recognition of Wesak (Vesak) in a global political context, highlighting Buddhism’s cultural and spiritual significance.
We’re excited to share another revision resource packed with quick recall questions perfect for helping students revisit and reinforce key knowledge from Catholic Christianity Paper 1A: Section 2 Practices (Specification A).
The worksheets inside these resources can be used as 'do now' activities, for intervention sessions, or as home learning/revision tasks.
(a) Question Revision Resource Worksheets: Catholic Christianity Section 2: Practices
Looking for flexible ways to support teaching and revision?
Our new recorded content support resources for GCSE Religious Studies B (1RB0) provide concise explanations of key beliefs, concepts, specialist vocabulary, and sources of wisdom and authority across the specification.
Whether used in the classroom, for homework, or independent revision, these recordings complement the existing resources in our Content Support area. They're clearly organised by specification, paper, and topic, helping teachers and students access relevant content quickly and easily.
Paper 1B Christianity: The Trinity – Learning and Recap
Stay tuned for more recordings coming soon!
Paper 1B: Christianity – Learning and Recap Video Recordings
We're trialling this new type of free learning and revision resource and would value your feedback. We've kept the survey intentionally brief, with just two short questions and an optional comments box, so it should take less than 30 seconds to complete. Please, tell us what you think about this resource by completing the 30-second feedback survey: Feedback on New Video Resource
Bring the curriculum to life with the Jewish Museum's Outreach workshops for London schools, led by the Jewish Museum's expert facilitators with museum objects.
Below are two of their most popular workshops:
Primary Schools: Totally Torah
Secondary Schools: GCSE Mitzvot in Daily Life
Outside of London? Their Exploring a Synagogue: Virtual Classroom is perfect for both Primary and Secondary!
Free Virtual Broadcasts | Jewish Museum London
Looking for more ways to bring Jewish life into the classroom? Their free 30-minute virtual Broadcasts explore Jewish festivals and events through museum objects, curriculum-linked themes, and authentic Jewish voices.
The University of Nottingham is organising a study day for A Level Religious Studies students on 17 September 2026. This will include opportunities to hear from academic experts tackling key topics on the RS syllabus, sessions exploring exciting new ideas, and a chance to visit the campus and discover what it's like to study at university.
Please note that this is a paid event and a ticket purchase is required to attend.
I hope you found this update useful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch using the contact details below. You can also sign up to get these Subject Advisor updates straight to your inbox every month.
