RE

Subject Leader: Mrs Bowles

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” The Dalai Lama

Although there is no National Curriculum for Religious Education in KS1 and KS2, every state funded school must teach RE and provide a broad and balanced curriculum which:

  • promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils, and
  • prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

Our Vision for RE…

As a community school, Religious Education is taught in accordance with the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus ‘Searching for Meaning’. This is an ambitious curriculum and outlines the curriculum intent and methods of implementation that will enable all pupils to achieve well and attain high level outcomes by the end of each key stage. The curriculum is taught from Reception to Y6 and reflects the fact that religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religious traditions represented in Great Britain.

The syllabus aims to support pupil’s personal search for meaning as they explore what it means to be human. It follows the Lancashire’ Field of Enquiry’ medium term planning model, but also specifies knowledge and skills which build towards clear goals at the end of each key stage. This ensures that the curriculum is progressive, clearly sequenced and suitably ambitious. It is rooted in disciplinary knowledge based in theology, social sciences and philosophy.

We recognise the variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds from which our pupils come. The taught syllabus is not designed to convert pupils, or to promote a particular religion or religious belief. As a school we maintain that teaching about religions and worldviews should be sufficiently fair, balanced and open. We aim to promote mutual respect and understanding, whilst not undermining or ignoring the role of families and religious or belief organisations in transmitting values to successive generations.

Why is RE important?

We believe that studying religious and non-religious worldviews is essential if pupils are to be well prepared for life in our increasingly diverse society. Pupils need to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to make sense of the complex world in which they live so that they can ‘respect religious and cultural differences and contribute to a cohesive and compassionate society’ (RE Review 2013).

Religious Education provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong, and what it means to be human. Pupils learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express insights in response, and to agree or disagree respectfully.

Pupils are encouraged to articulate clearly and coherently their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences so that they can hold balanced and well informed conversations about religions and worldviews whilst respecting the views of others.

What RE looks like…

Our curriculum for Religious Education aims to ensure that all pupils know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews; can express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews; and gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews. Each year group has a key question which drives their learning throughout the year with a secondary question driving each half-termly learning. Children learn about three aspects of Christianity (God, Church and Jesus) for half a term each in every year group from Year 1 upwards, with other major religions (Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism) being studied in the other three half-terms per year.

Children will learn about the key festivals of the major religions and have the opportunity to enrich their knowledge through visits to places of worship and having members of local religious communities visit the school.

Religious Education - Gallery