RE

Religious Education 

RE explores big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live. RE helps pupils to make sense of religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living. (Taken from the Devon Agreed Syllabus for RE – RE Today syllabus b). 

Vision: 

 As a school we want staff and pupils to spur each other on with love to be the best that they can be within every area of the curriculum.  Within Religious Education this means encouraging each other to ask big questions, aspiring to grow in knowledge about what people believe and how this makes a difference to how they live their lives. 

At Blackpool CE Primary School we aim to provide all our children with an excellent caring and supportive Christian environment.  Our Christian values, which develop the children’s spiritual and moral understanding, underpin all areas of school life as we support our children to become valued, caring and responsible members of society. The strong Christian ethos in our school is reflected in our Religious Education curriculum. Following a key-stage appropriate progessional programme of study, children follow the Understanding Christianity programme alongside the Devon and Torbay Agreed Syllabus (2019 – 2024). Big Questions are also play an important part in allowing children to explore their thoughts and ideas.  As they explore the subject, children are supported to develop their understanding of Christianity, other religions and world views. Children are taught how to make sense of beliefs, make connections based on their learning and understand their impact of beliefs on themselves, their community and the wider world.  We  are passionate about equipping our children with the skills they need to be effective global citizens. From the earliest age we teach children how to voice and develop opinions in respectful way. Opportunities are also regularly provided for our children to explore their own spirituality. 

Aims:  

The principal aim of religious education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living. 

We follow the Devon and Torbay agreed syllabus. This scheme will use the objectives for a 2 yearly rotation with pupils in mixed aged classes having 2 academic years to complete the learning objectives for the 2 years as outlined by the Devon and Torbay agreed syllabus. Teaching and Learning in RE is based around 3 key elements: Making sense of beliefs, making connections and understanding the impact.  Planning includes a progression of skills in these areas. 

Early Years:  

Children begin to encounter religious and non-religious world views through special people, places, books, times and objects.  They are encouraged to ask questions and reflect on their own feelings and experiences allowing them to begin to develop their own spirituality. 

The objectives covered are linked to the Early Learning Goals and outcomes in: 

• Communication and language 

• Personal, social and emotional development 

• Understanding the World 

• Expressive arts and design 

• Literacy 

• Mathematics  

Key stage 1:  

Children study Christianity, Islam, Judaism and explore other world views  as they make sense of, make connections between and understand the impact of religious and non-religious beliefs. 

Key Stage 2:  

Taking a more systematic and detailed approach, children explore Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and non-religious World views such as Humanism.  They consider their own beliefs and values and those of others as they develop their learning in Religious Education.   

Religion and Ethos at Blackpool 

Within Blackpool Primary school, daily collective worship is an important element of every school day. Time for prayer and reflection is encouraged in our classrooms and throughout our school. This includes opportunities for children to explore their own spirituality (see Spirituality statement of intent) Teachers and local church leaders lead assemblies which highlight the school’s Christian values.  Links are made to connect the learning in Religious Education in the classroom with collective worship. The ‘Big Picture’ image linked to the Understanding Christianity scheme of learning is central to collective worship. The school has strong links with the local church community and plans indicate that all children will visit the local church to deepen their learning every year   Regular access to the ‘Christian library’ also supports children to develop their own spirituality.  The school Ethos group is also pinnacle to driving forward the Christian values of throughout the school. Each term focuses on the core school values of aspire (justice, love, service), flourish(friendship, forgiveness, kindness) and achieve (humility, perseverance and courage). The school also has an annual focus on respect, recognising the need for children ensure children to love their neighbour as themselves and respect the similarities and differences which exists between themselves and the wider global community. The Ethos cup is regularly awarded to celebrate and highlight pupils demonstrating our school Christian values successfully.  

Assessment Monitoring and review:  

Pupils will be assessed on their Religious Education knowledge and skills against the planned curriculum for each unit of work.  Work throughout the year is assessed against the intended curricular goals. 

Subject leaders and senior leaders will have discussions with pupils and teachers alongside our curriculum plan and evidence of work to ensure all essential elements of our curriculum have been delivered. 

Schools and daily acts of collective worship

Each pupil must take part in a daily act of collective worship unless they have been withdrawn by their parents.

Our Church of England schools must provide collective worship in accordance with the tenets and practices of the Church of England.

Our community schools (schools that do not have a religious designation) must provide collective worship that is wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character. A school can reflect the religious backgrounds represented in its community, as long as the majority of provision is broadly Christian.

Religious education

Our schools follow the Devon and Torbay agreed RE syllabus.

The right to withdraw from religious education and/or collective worship

Parents have the right to withdraw their children from religious education and/or collective worship, and should contact the Head of Teaching & Learning to ask for this. Parents will be invited to a meeting to discuss withdrawal and to explore how their concern may be met. Parents are not obliged to attend such a meeting in which case withdrawal shall be put into effect immediately and the school will notify the parent.

Please see our policies below for more information:

This is what our children say about RE in our school...

' I like learning about different religions and different beliefs. I think it is really important to know about the way other people think and what they do, so that we can live in peace.' Year 6

'I remember learning about Easter and Christmas and why Christians celebrate these because they are about Jesus.' Year 2

'My teacher makes RE lessons really fun because we do lots of debates and we are all allowed to give our point of view and respect every ones views.' Year 5

'We learn new things in RE, but we always remind ourselves about what we have already learnt so that we aren't always starting over again. It always leads on from something we already know about.' Year 4