Religious Education

Intent:

At Staplecross Methodist School, the aim of Religious Education is to help children acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain; to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Religious Education plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children.

High quality RE teaching and learning is considered a fundamental aim within the school’s curriculum.

Implementation:

We have developed our own carefully planned Long Term Plan for RE to ensure progression and consolidation of knowledge and understanding.  We have taken into account the requirements and guidelines presented in the East Sussex Agreed Syllabus,and  and implement an enquiry based approach using units from the Emmanuel Project, and at times supplemented by resources from Understanding Christianity. We seek to include a range of resources including artefacts, videos, stories, access to the Internet, external visitors and visits to places of worship.  Children will also use variety of art, drama, music and first-hand experiences to access the content of different religious units.

In KS1 the emphasis is on teaching Christianity with some aspects of Islam and Judaism. 

In KS2 Christianity plus Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Humanism and other non-religious sectors are studied.

We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely.  We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. 

Impact:  

RE offers our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way. Our children leave primary school with a good understanding of the basic beliefs in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam.  They learn respect for people, whatever their faith, and have a greater understanding of the importance of belief systems in drawing communities together. As such, RE is invaluable in a diverse and ever changing world.