Religious Education

Religious education in a Church school should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10). It will help educate for dignity and respect encouraging all to live well together. 

INTENT

At Langwathby C of E Primary School we believe that it is important for all our children to learn from religion and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them. RE expresses and strengthens the vision, ethos and values that are at the heart of what we aim to do in every aspect of school life so that we can offer human flourishing for all. The importance placed on the development of the whole child spiritually, morally, socially, culturally and intellectually is reflected in the RE curriculum.

The aim of Religious Education in our school is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other world religions, whilst also encouraging children to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and behaviour of individuals around the world. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. Our curriculum is designed to encourage creativity, imagination, enquiry, debate, discussion and independence.

AIMS
The aims of religious education in this school are:

1. To enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a diverse global living faith through the exploration of core beliefs using an approach that critically engages with biblical text.
2. To enable pupils to gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews appreciating diversity, continuity and change within the religions and worldviews being studied.
3. To facilitate pupils to engage with challenging questions of meaning and purpose raised by human existence and experience.
4. To enable pupils to recognise the concept of religion and its continuing influence on Britain’s cultural heritage and in the lives of individuals and societies in different times, cultures and places.
5. To encourage pupils to explore their own religious, spiritual and philosophical ways of living, believing and thinking.

National Society RE Statement of Entitlement 2019

IMPLEMENTATION

The school provides an RE curriculum that is rich and varied and studies a range of world religions and worldviews. At the heart of RE in this school is the teaching of Christianity, rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ that enables learners to acquire a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith. We have created our own whole School Scheme of work, taking inspiration from a number of useful syllabus such as; RE Questful and Understanding Christianity as well as from Carlisle Diocese. As well as Christianity, we also have specific units of work learning about Islam and Hinduism. We do however, look at a number of other religious beliefs and traditions within our RE lessons and wider life of the school. Our teachers use a range of formative assessment throughout their lessons, as well as a summative assessment at the end of each unit of work. These vary but may include quizzes, multiple choice question tests, RE Questful learning journey maps as well as reflective writing pieces based on key questions.

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.  All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community. Children also take trips to the local Christian Church throughout the academic year to celebrate Christian events, welcome other local schools to join in with value art afternoons as well as going further afield to visit other religious places of worship.

We are extremely lucky to welcome many visitors into our school on a weekly basis to lead our whole school Collective Worships. In addition, we encourage children to partake in whole class worships, as well as teachers regularly leading a Collective Worship.

IMPACT

The children at Langwathby C of E Primary school enjoy and are encouraged to know about, understand and respond to the ultimate questions of life and ethical issues. Our curriculum inspires pupils to explore, develop and affirm their own faith and values whilst having respect for the faith, beliefs and values of others. We are committed to education for wisdom, hope, community and dignity. Through their learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world, developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life. Our curriculum inspirers children to also explore, develop and affirm their own faith and values, whilst having respect for the faith, belief and values of others.

Through the assessment of RE, teachers can assess how much knowledge children have learnt about different religions, as well as how much children have learnt from different religions and what they personally belief in life.