Religious Education
Religious Education (RE)
Intent
Our RE curriculum enables pupils to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish within their school and home communities and as citizens in a diverse society. It teaches pupils to develop respect for others, including people with different faiths and beliefs and helps to challenge prejudice. Through RE across the school, we develop children’s skills of enquiry, reasoned argument and reflection.
Rationale
The overall purpose of RE is to promote literacy about religious and non-religious worldviews.
Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school. At Mickley First School, Religious Education plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, particularly PSHCE and British Values, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children.
Implementation
Our program for Religious Education is based on the Northumberland Agreed Syllabus. Recent legislation states that the teaching in this area must be broadly Christian. However, as we live in a multi-cultural society, we feel our teaching should also reflect this. There is a strong emphasis on moral teaching and values. Daily assemblies provide opportunities for collective worship.
In Reception and Key Stage 1, we aim to provide children with an introduction to Christian beliefs about God and Jesus and give them the opportunity to learn about Christian lifestyles, communities, festivals and celebrations. Children are also given an introduction to other world religions including Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. In Key Stage 2, we build on this foundation and explore the different religions in more detail.
We have strong links with our local churches and in both Key Stages, children are given various opportunities to visit places of worship. We celebrate various Christian festivals throughout the school year like Easter and Christmas. We also celebrate festivals of other faiths like Diwali, Eid and Chinese New Year. We aim to include all pupils regardless of their beliefs or background and children are taught the respect the beliefs of others.
Our RE teaching links very closely to our PSCHE curriculum and our work on SMSC and British Values.
Impact
Through their RE learning, pupils can make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. They develop tolerance and respect for others.
Parents may withdraw their children from religious Education or from collective worship but are asked to speak to the Headteacher.
RE teaching is detailed in our topic webs.