RE |

We know that RE makes a powerful contribution to our pupils learning. It provides them with the chance to explore the big ideas of religion and belief and to think about what matters in their own lives. We look at the continuing role of religion in contemporary British and global society. We aim to make our school a challenging but safe space for pupils to explore their own and others’ religious, spiritual and philosophical convictions critically and responsibly. High quality RE supports the development of the whole child. It also has a significant contribution to make to whole school improvement. We continuously strive for excellence for all our pupils in Religious Education. Our whole school Christian vision of ‘Growing Together as a Family of God,’ and Christian Values is threaded throughout R.E.

RE aims to enable pupils of all abilities and needs to:

Develop strong substantive, disciplinary and personal knowledge of the Christian faith and delve into the beliefs, practices and diversity of the principal religions and diverse worldviews. This exploration should take place by viewing the beliefs through the three ‘lenses’, the theological lens (believing), the philosophical lens (thinking) and the lens of human and social sciences (living);
Study the Christian faith by exploring aspects including The Bible, Old Testament characters, the life, teachings and actions of Jesus, Christian festivals, creation, wisdom, saints, liturgy, the local Church, the Christian community, rites of passage, living out the faith and values rooted in Christianity;
Apply an understanding of Christianity to make reasoned and informed responses to life issues and moral choices;
Recognise that there are a number of different branches of Christianity who may share common beliefs but interpret and practice their faith in different ways;
Apply religious literacy as they express and demonstrate an informed respect, empathy and sensitivity towards all people, building bridges of understanding leading to community cohesion;
Grow and deepen their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development including an active promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion through the kaleidoscope of faith;
Develop the ability to reflect on their own beliefs, values, misconceptions and experiences, and communicate issues of faith and truth e.g. faith and worldview responses to climate justice;
Flourish as they develop skills of enquiry, critical analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and reflection.

At St. Anne’s, we follow the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education primary syllabus for RE. The syllabus comprises units of study, exploring religious concepts, for the teaching of Christianity at EYFS, KS1 and KS2 and the study of other principal world religions, specifically beginning from KS1. It clearly identifies opportunities for pupils to both learn about religion and learn from religion.

The RE curriculum is broken into three interlinking elements (disciplinary lenses):

Element 1: Believing (theological)

Identifying and making sense of core religious and non-religious beliefs and concepts; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority (such as texts) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.

Element 2: Thinking (philosophical)

Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Element 3: Living (sociological)

Examining how and why people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.

R.E supports the teaching of British Values. It is taught within a context of a safe space for free speech, where every view – point and belief is valued and respected as an individual response. Our goal is that work in this subject will significantly impact children’s personal development, allowing them to flourish into young citizens who demonstrate understanding and respect through positive Christian values such as compassion and love.