Religious Education (RE), at St Paul’s, has high status as a core area of our curriculum and learning we aim for it to be inspiring to children, developing their knowledge and shaping them as individuals to learn from the subject.

 At St Paul’s, we are committed to the teaching and learning of an engaging and inspiring RE Curriculum. We believe RE has an important role in reflecting and conveying our distinctively Christian character of our school. We believe that pupils are inspired to strive for excellence within a thriving, inclusive community.  We aim to enable every child to shine and aspire to reach their personal potential, whilst respecting and caring for one another and honouring God with their individual talents.

Our RE curriculum is carefully planned to provide children with the opportunity to develop a spiritual and moral approach to life.   RE at St Paul’s seeks to address important questions about the meaning and purpose of existence, and to discover and celebrate what is ultimately worthwhile and valuable in life. We aim to ensure that pupils acquire a knowledge and understanding of both Christianity and other religious beliefs and practices through exploring other world faiths including: Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Children are also able to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences in light of their study. The RE curriculum is based on the London Diocesan Syllabus and is determined by the Governing Body.

 Aims of RE

Through Religious Education pupils will be enabled to:

• develop and extend knowledge, understanding and awareness of the Christian faith and other religious traditions
• develop an understanding of the beliefs, values and traditions of individuals, communities, societies and cultures
• develop the ability to make informed judgements about religious and moral issues, with reference to the teachings of the principal religions represented in Great Britain
• enhance their spiritual, moral, cultural and social development by:
  • developing an awareness of the fundamental questions of life raised by human experiences, and of how the Christian faith and other religious teachings can relate to them
  • responding to such questions with references to the teachings and practices of the Christian faith and other religious traditions, and to their own understanding and experience
  • reflecting on their own beliefs, values and experiences in the light of their study.

Curriculum

The school uses the LDBS scheme of work for RE which covers the six main world religions and a number of thematic units for Upper Juniors. The content of the curriculum is in the main part Christianity. Children have at least an hour of RE taught each week which is separate to the children’s entitlement for collective worship.

We provide the children with a rich and varied RE curriculum. Teaching methods include:

• Questioning and opportunities for reflection
• Investigative work using religious artefacts, library books and the internet
• Opportunities for the children to respond practically through use of art and drama
• Opportunities for writing and recording in books
• Use of videos to support the children’s learning
• Visits or ‘virtual’ visits to places of worship
• Interviews and discussion with people of different faith backgrounds
• Use of children’s own experiences as a resource

Enquiry Based Approach

We adopt an enquiry approach that engages with and helps to develop religious and theological literacy; makes links with the Christian values of the school: Compassion, Forgiveness, Justice, Koinonia and Thankfulness and develops spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  We aim that our RE curriculum should have a significant impact on learners – what they know and what they show.  Our RE curriculum engages and challenges our pupils through an exploration of core concepts and questions. Each unit of work has an overall ‘Big Question’ which is explored through a subsidiary question each lesson (E.g. Big question: What is it like to live as a Jewish person? Subsidiary question: What is the Torah and how is it used in the Jewish faith?). We provide pupils with a balanced RE curriculum which enquires into religions and world views through theology, philosophy and the human and social sciences. This is presented to the children as believing, thinking and living:

• Theology – believing: Looking at where beliefs come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other.
• Philosophy – thinking: Finding out how and whether things make sense, dealing with questions of morality and ethics and asking questions about reality, knowledge and existence.
• Human/Social Sciences – living: Exploring the diverse ways in which people practise their beliefs and engaging with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities and societies.

Areas of enquiry:

There are six key areas of enquiry which the children will cover. These are:

• Beliefs, teachings, sources of wisdom and authority
• Ways of living
• Ways of expressing meaning
• Questions of identity, diversity and belonging
• Questions of meaning, purpose and truth
• Questions of values and commitments

Higher level skills, such as enquiry, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and reflection to deepen their understanding of knowledge and the impact of religion on the world, leading to high attainment.

All schools have a statutory duty to teach Religious Education. Religious Education (RE) is delivered to all children (apart from those whose parents exercise the right to withdraw) and is seen as high priority in our school. At St Paul’s, we expect that withdrawal from Religious Education will only be made following discussions with the Headteacher and receipt of written confirmation from the parent/carer.

Long term plans, showing the content taught in Religious Education can be found below: