Why We Study Religious Education
At our school, Religious Education is a vital part of the curriculum that helps children make sense of the world around them and their place within it. Through our carefully planned RE programme, pupils engage with a wide range of religious and non-religious worldviews in a way that promotes critical thinking, empathy, and personal reflection.
We use an enquiry-based approach, encouraging children to explore big questions about identity, belief, morality, and meaning. It supports pupils in forming their own beliefs and values, while developing respect and understanding for others in a diverse and multicultural society.
By studying RE, children learn to appreciate different perspectives, challenge stereotypes, and engage in thoughtful dialogue. The curriculum nurtures spiritual development, builds a sense of belonging, and prepares pupils to be compassionate, informed citizens in a pluralistic world.
How We Teach Religious Education
Religious Education at our school follows an enquiry-based model structure around key themes and concepts. Each block is carefully planned to build pupils’ understanding of a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, including Christianity, Islam, Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), and Humanism, with progression in both knowledge and skills across year groups.
RE is explored through three distinct lenses:
- Believing – focusing on theology and what people believe, helping children develop skills in interpreting religious texts and teachings.
- Living – examining how beliefs influence daily life and practices, encouraging pupils to analyse diversity within and across religions.
- Thinking – exploring philosophical questions about meaning, identity, and values, developing reasoning and reflective thinking.
Lessons are enriched through stories, artefacts, sensory experiences, music, cooking and research. Learning is further enriched through a range of visitors coming to school either during assemblies or when working with specific groups of children. RE is a vibrant and inclusive part of school life.
What Is Special About Religious Education In Our School
The diversity in our students is limited and it is crucial therefore that we recognise the variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds that make up wider society. We have a good relationship with faith practitioners from our local area and we value their contribution to our provision of effective RE. We actively seek to prepare our pupils for life in modern Britain. As such, we promote key British values, including respect for and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We challenge racism and all forms of prejudice and we see RE as one curriculum area in which our pupils can encounter and critically reflect on a range of worldviews. Throughout their time in the school children take part in annual celebrations of diversity through the celebrations of Chinese New Year, Harvest Festival and Commonwealth Week.
Guidance encourages a range of teaching and learning styles in RE; our policy's aim is to ensure enquiry, art, drama, thinking skills, speaking and listening activities, multisensory activities, visits/visitors, ICT and other teaching strategies are used in order to enable each child to progress in RE according to their individual needs. We identify RE as one of the core subjects through which our pupils can develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally.
We consider that an essential element of the delivery of good quality RE is to encounter with a range of religious and non-religious worldviews. We encourage our pupils to participate in visits to places of worship when the opportunity arises; these visits are arranged in line with the programme of study for RE and provide pupils with the chance to encounter world religions as living faiths in modern Britain. We also encourage faith leaders and other members of faith communities to visit our school.