Religious Education
Statement of Intent
At Pott Shrigley Church School, we believe that Religious Education is a central subject within our curriculum because, as a church aided school, we believe that our Christian faith underpins and informs all aspects of our life and learning. High quality Religious Education (RE) is the key to enabling every child to flourish. We underpin our curriculum offer with our vision - Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. We ensure our values of respect, compassion and coming together underpin all we teach.
Quality RE has the potential, more than any other subject, to have the most powerful and lasting effect on the child’s heart and mind. It is a subject that combines academic rigour with the development of the character and spirit of the child. RE provides opportunities for spiritual development and personal reflection. On a quest to discover more about religion and world views, pupils will discover more about themselves. As RE develops children’s knowledge and understanding of the nature of religion and belief, it provokes challenging questions about meaning and purpose, truth and values, identity and belonging.
The Diocesan Board of Education makes the following recommendations to Governing Bodies: –
- That the amount of time allocated to RE should be at least 5%. This is the minimum recommended in national guidelines. There will be occasions when RE takes a larger slice of the curriculum, reflecting the Church School’s greater commitment to the subject.
- That in Voluntary Aided Church Schools, as is Pott Shrigley Church School, the curriculum time for RE, Christianity should occupy 70% of the time. Therefore, 30% of RE curriculum time should be devoted to the study of the World Faiths and non-religious world views.
- That as well as Christianity, pupils should study aspects of the practices and beliefs of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, along with non-religious views such as Humanism.
- The Governing Body should nominate a member to be responsible for oversight of the school’s RE provision and standards.
For more information, see https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-02/re-statement-of-entitlement-for-church-schools.pdf
At Pott Shrigley Church School, we ensure that we meet these recommendations. We follow Questful RE, which is a scheme produced by the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education. By embracing the explicit teaching of Christian concepts and God’s big salvation story, the content of this syllabus provides pupils with a deeper understanding of Christianity. In addition, pupils explore all major world faiths and discuss world views where appropriate. Whoever we are, wherever we live, whether we are a person of faith or not, we all have a view on the world. Nobody stands nowhere.
Pupils will experience, explore and encounter a wide range of creative and challenging multi-sensory activities that will help them to discover the answers to fundamental questions such as these:
- Who am I and what does it mean to be me?
- In what ways do/can I relate to others?
- How/where can I encounter God?
- How can I make a positive contribution to the world in which I live?
- What values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour are important to me?
- What does it mean to have faith?
- Who/what influences and inspires me?
Through an open investigative enquiry approach, the pupils will be given the sense of being on a quest of discovery. A key feature of the syllabus is the large number of questions included in each unit. The purpose of these questions is to give pupils opportunity to investigate, reflect, evaluate and make meaning. In doing so, they will discover more about themselves, their relationships with others, their relationship with the world around them and their relationship with God.
The curriculum content is a balance of the three essential disciplines of quality RE, Theology, Philosophy and Social Science. This means pupils will look at concepts through a theological lens, exploring what people of faith believe. Alongside this, pupils will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the lived reality and impact of religion and world views on people’s lives. They will also think like philosophers, and be equipped with the skills that will enable them to make sense of life’s experiences. We also provide our children with deeper questions to enable them to think deeply about their own faith journey.
RE prepares children for citizenship in today’s diverse society. It enables them to develop sensitivity to, and respect for others. Through authentic encounters with living faith communities, pupils will develop diversity dexterity and be equipped with the ability to hold an informed conversation about religious beliefs and practices. The teaching of RE is both a huge responsibility and a privilege that must be recognised by those who teach it.
Please see our RE long term plan below to understand how we deliver RE throughout the year.