Vision Statement

As a Church of England school, St Peter’s CE Primary School aims to reflect and implement the ‘Church of England Statement of Entitlement’ to ensure that students are receiving high quality RE teaching. At our school, students and their families can expect a religious education curriculum that is rich and varied, enabling learners to acquire a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith and other major religions, especially those that are the main faiths of children in our school. Children reflect on what it means to have a faith and to develop their own spiritual knowledge and understanding. We help the children learn from religions as well as about religions. Through our curriculum, we aim to enable all children to become religiously literate.

What is Religious Education?

Religious Education is a subject that aims to develop children's understanding of the world's religions. Through religious education, children will learn about different religions and their traditions, practices and beliefs. Religious education also promotes children's tolerance and mutual respect in a diverse society.

Why is Religious Education important?

Religious education in a Church school should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness (Statement of Entitlement.) In RE, pupils enter into discussion about the religious and non-religious traditions that have shaped Great Britain and the world. RE enables pupils to take their place within a diverse multi-religious and multi-secular society. It is intellectually challenging and personally enriching. It affords pupils both the opportunity to see the religion and non-religion in the world, and the opportunity to make sense of their own place in that world. A high-quality religious education programme is essential to meet the statutory requirement for all state funded schools to teach a full curriculum that prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in modern Britain.

Curriculum Intent

It is our intent for the Religious Education element of our school curriculum to engage, inspire, challenge and encourage pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to answer challenging questions. Religious Education contributes significantly to the Christian ethos of the school and enables pupils to ask deep and often searching questions about both their own faiths and beliefs, and the beliefs, faiths and opinions of others regarding social, cultural and moral issues.  Our RE curriculum allows children to discover and gain an insight into religions within the world that we live. We see the teaching of RE as vital for children to understand the beliefs of others and make connections between their own values. This will help them to develop responsibility and respect for all aspects of diversity, whether it be social, cultural or religious, and be prepared well for life in modern Britain.

The objectives of teaching religious education in our school are to help children:

• develop an awareness of spiritual, philosophical and moral issues arising in their lives;
• develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity as a living world faith that influences the lives of people both in Britain and around the world;
• to know and understand about other major world religions and value systems found in Britain and worldwide;
• develop an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition;
• be able to reflect on their own experiences and to develop a personal response to the fundamental questions of life;
• develop an understanding of religious traditions and to appreciate the cultural differences in Britain today;
• develop investigative and research skills, and make reasoned judgements about religious issues;
• have respect for other people’s views, and celebrate the diversity in society.

Curriculum Implementation

We base our teaching and learning style in RE on the key principle that good teaching in RE allows children both to learn about religious traditions and to reflect on what the religious ideas and concepts mean to them. Our teaching enables children to extend their own sense of values, and promotes their spiritual growth and development. We encourage children to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and belief.  

Teachers use a range of resources to form an enquiry based approach that engages with holy texts and helps develop religious and theological literacy.  We plan our religious education curriculum in accordance with the ‘Jack in the Box Big Bible Story’ resource (Foundation Stage), the Understanding Christianity resource (Key Stage One and Two) and the Sandwell Agreed Syllabus. We ensure that the topics studied in religious education build on prior learning. We offer opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit, and we ensure that the progression planned into the scheme of work offers the children an increasing challenge as they move through the school.

In Foundation Stage, children explore Christianity through the ‘Jack in the Box Big Bible Story'. Across Key Stage One and Two, children explore Christianity through learning about the ‘Big Story’ of the bible. This includes: God, Creation, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and Kingdom of God. Children are also given regular opportunities to learn about other religions including: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Humanism.

Religious Education is taught weekly by the class teacher who plans for each lesson based on the school’s long and medium term plans. These plans are distributed by the subject leader to ensure that children have complete coverage of the syllabus. Teachers are responsible for ensuring that lessons provide a balance between three disciplines: theology, philosophy and human/social sciences.

Teachers assess children’s work in religious education by making informal judgements as they observe them during lessons. On completion of a piece of work, the teacher assesses the work and gives the child written or verbal feedback to help guide progress. Children are then encouraged to make judgements about how they might improve their work in the future. This information is used to assess the progress of each child, to aid further planning and when passing information on to the next teacher at the end of the year.

Curriculum Impact

By the time children leave St Peter’s CE Primary School, they will:

• Be ‘religiously literate’ and therefore able to empathise with others and make links within and between faiths.
• Ask and offer possible answers to challenging questions about the meaning of life, beliefs, nature of reality and morality.
• Have a secure understanding and knowledge of the religions studied and be confident to answer ‘big’ questions.
• Have the ability to ask significant and reflective questions about religion and demonstrate a good understanding of issues relating to the nature, truth and value of religion.
• Have a sense of self, identity and belonging to flourish within the community and be responsible citizens.
• Show respect, tolerance and understanding of all religions and beliefs
• Have a strong understanding of how the beliefs, values, practices and ways of life within any religion come together.
• Have the ability to link the study of religion and belief to personal reflections on meaning and purpose.
• Have the ability to exemplify the school’s Christian values in all aspects of life that are rooted in the teachings of the Bible.

Visits to Places of Worship

As part of our RE curriculum, children are given the opportunity to visit different places of worship in our local area. These visits are built in to complement and support teaching sequences and provide 'real-life' examples of religion in action. At St Peter's, we believe that these visits are an important part of religious education and that they enable pupils to become religiously literate. 

Reception:

Christian and/or Catholic Church 

Year 1:

Gurdwara

Year 3:

Mosque

Year 4:

Synagogue 

Year 6:

Mandir