Religious Education
INTENT
At The John Wesley CEM Primary School, Religious Education (RE) is a core subject that helps children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain; We want to support the pupils in developing their understanding of religion and beliefs which then contributes to their understanding of the world and their own experience within it. As a school, we intend that Religious Education will be taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, of the school. At The John Wesley CEM Primary, Religious Education plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children. As a Church of England and Methodist Voluntary Aided Primary School, high quality RE teaching and learning is considered a fundamental aim within the school’s curriculum.
IMPLEMENTATION
At The John Wesley CEM Primary, RE is taught based around The Big Story and big questions, in accordance with 'Understanding Christianity' and supplemented by Methodist Units from the Methodists schools and the Kent Approved Kent agreed syllabus to teach other world faiths.
It is coherently planned and sequenced to include a balanced mixture of Christianity (66%) and other world religions (Hindu Dharma, Islam, Sikhi and Judaism) as well as a world view of Humanism. Using these units ensures that the skills and knowledge delivered through the spiral curriculum learning is firmly embedded and built on as children revisit ideas, concepts and religions. The teaching of Religious Education makes a distinctive contribution to the school curriculum as it allows all pupils to explore, question, understand and express their own response to spiritual and religious approaches to life.
Our Religious Education curriculum provides high quality teaching and learning, which in turn enriches the children’s learning experiences. At The John Wesley CEM Primary School, we are a Church of England Methodist Voluntarily Aided school which means that we are privileged to be involved with both churches. As a school, we have developed a positive working relationship with both churches and the curriculum is enhanced with visits to and from these places of worship as well as from people of world faiths in our community. Our RE curriculum is successfully adapted, designed and developed for pupils with special educational needs by the teacher as necessary. It is a curriculum that is broad, balanced and inclusive for all pupils. ‘Understanding Christianity’ and our other units will:
- Provide children with a theological and conceptual basis of Christianity through exploring Christian accounts of the ‘big story’ of Creation, Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and Kingdom of God.
- Provide a clear outline of core knowledge in relation to Christianity
- Explore essential background information to Christian concepts
- Teach children how to use the Bible and apply teachings to their own lives
- Inspires creative learning through excellent teaching practices that build on prior knowledge and allows for progression of skills as the children re-visit core concepts.
- Encourages children to reflect critically and engage with the 'big questions'.
- Develop the children's development of their own beliefs and values
- Develop the children's understanding of the way in which beliefs influence people's behaviour, practices and outlook.
There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff. 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. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children.
IMPACT
The children at The John Wesley CEM Primary School enjoying learning about faiths and why people choose, or choose not to follow a religion. Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. R.E. acts as a hub, therefore, between social aspects of learning, science and geography. Through R.E. our children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community. R.E. also offers our children opportunities to ask why, how and ‘I wonder’ questions and to present arguments and debate topics important to them in a safe and respectful environment.
Children show high levels of self-awareness and model respect and empathy for others. Pupils will use specific skills and vocabulary taught in lessons across other aspects of the school day and school life.
R.E. offers our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way. As such, R.E. is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world to make sure children are prepared for a life in modern Britain.
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Understanding Christianity- The Big Frieze
This wall frieze is the called ‘The Big Frieze’ it is designed by the artist Emma Yarlett to illustrate seven of the concepts that are explored in Understanding Christianity. It represents the ‘big story’ of the Bible and used to help teach the Christianity units in the school. The images represent Creation, Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and Kingdom of God.
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