ST PETER’S CE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Religious Education
“Religious Education should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness.”
(John 10:10)
‘Let your light shine before others, so they see your good works and give glory to God’ Matthew 5v16
Rooted in Christian faith, which underpins the school’s ethos, we seek to enable all pupils to develop their full academic potential; discover skills and talents in art, music, sport and drama; and grow in spiritual awareness and moral character. By striving for excellence within an inclusive environment, enabling every child to develop their gifts and flourish, we seek to shine as a community, so our achievements give glory to God
Perseverance, Kindness, Respect, Courage, Thankfulness and Service
In the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist School’s, which took place in October 2017, St Peters was graded ‘Outstanding’ in all areas.
The report stated: ‘Pupils’ knowledge about religious education is impressive and enables them to develop a deep respect for those around them’.
The report also celebrated the fact that: ‘Collective worship deepens pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development so that they are motivated to give charitably to others, both in the UK and around the world’.
At St Peter’s RE is a core academic subject that enables pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, recognising their local, national and global contexts. The teaching of RE provides all pupils with the opportunity to ask questions and begin to express their own views in response to the material they learn about and in response to questions about their ideas.
We use the London Diocese Board of Schools Religious Education Syllabus as the basis for our curriculum.
INTENT
At St Peter’s we aim to teach a Religious Education Curriculum accessible to all pupils that will maximise the outcomes for every child, allowing all children to become religiously literate. We follow the Church of England’s vision for Education to ensure that our Christian school vision, ethos and environment, supported by our RE curriculum, enables children to live life in all its fullness. We seek to offer a systematic enquiry-based approach to the teaching of RE so that our pupils can develop the following skills:
- critical thinking
- an ability to engage critically with texts
- an ability to ask deep and meaningful questions
- an ability to make connections within and across religions and worldviews
- an ability to reflect, respond and express their own religious, spiritual and/philosophical beliefs
- an ability to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief based on a deep knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, belief systems, values and practices
Our RE curriculum is rooted in theological concepts, strong subject knowledge and content. It offers sequential learning to support a development of knowledge and skills across the primary age range,
which encourages the children to make links with what they are learning in other subjects, and to build upon their knowledge and understanding of faith. Through the curriculum, our children have the opportunity to enquire into religions and world views through theology, philosophy and the human and social sciences.
We offer motivating, engaging and creative lessons for all children, which provide challenge and an in-depth exploration of religious beliefs and practices. Through our RE teaching we intend that our pupils develop empathy towards people of similar or differing religious or world views to their own and that pupils make meaningful progress in terms of knowledge, understanding and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
We inspire our pupils to demonstrate both their knowledge about faith, and their skills in religious literacy, in the way that they interact with others in the classroom and the wider community, both now, and in the next stages of their education.
IMPLEMENTATION
At St Peter’s we adhere to the Religious Education Church of England Schools – Statement of Entitlement and ensure that all pupils have no less than 5% of curriculum time dedicated to RE learning: pupils receive 1.5hrs of RE a week.
In line with this entitlement, our curriculum offers a 2/3 Christianity focus with 1/3 of learning based upon other World Faiths. RE teaching is further enhanced through collective worship and engaging in the life of our Church – St. Peter’s.
We seek to provide our pupils with a lived experience of the religions and faiths they are studying. To do this, we harness the knowledge of local clergy and faith leaders in our community to enhance our RE curriculum. We also ensure that trips and visits are planned which offer our pupils the opportunity to experience faith practices for themselves.
Our RE curriculum is thoughtfully mapped to offer units of learning that are rooted in theological concepts, strong subject knowledge and content. Core concepts are re-visited throughout the primary years, giving children the opportunity to build upon prior knowledge, learn new knowledge and be given the opportunity to apply the knowledge to different contexts and material. The necessary prior knowledge required, in order to access the current learning, will have been taught due to careful consideration of where each unit has been placed within the curriculum map.
When exploring faiths, pupils learn:
- The main teachings and beliefs of the Faith we are learning about
- Beliefs and practices and the impact they have upon the life of the believer
- How key festivals within the Faith are celebrated within the Faith community
Within every unit of learning the following steps take place as part of the learning process:
Enquire
Investigate/ Explore
Evaluate/ Communicate
Reflect on/ Express
IMPACT
Through our RE teaching our pupils will:
- understand the Christian religion from a global perspective and the diversity within it
- be able to hold a balanced and well-informed conversation about religion and world views (Religious literacy)
- make good or better academic progress from their starting points as a result of a rich and engaging RE curriculum
- be able to reflect, respond and express their own religious, spiritual and/or philosophical convictions
- be able to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief based on a deep knowledge and understanding of religions and world views, belief systems, values and practices
- have developed a deeper understanding of what it means to live life in all its fullness
