Religious education plays an important part within our creative curriculum. We have adopted the principles of the Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in order to promote ‘religious literacy’. By this we mean that pupils are able to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and belief.
The aims of religious education are to enable pupils to:
- Know about and understand Christianity as a living faith that influences the lives of people worldwide and as the religion that has most shaped British Culture and heritage.
- Give a theologically informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith.
- Know about and understand other major world religions and world views, their impact on society, culture and the wider world, enabling pupils to express ideas and insights.
- Show a well-informed, balanced and respectful attitude to religions and world views
- Engage in meaningful and well-informed dialogue with those of other faiths and none
- Reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions, exploring and enriching their own beliefs and values.
Curriculum
The curriculum for RE is designed to ensure religious literacy lies at the heart. A multi-disciplinary approach to curriculum design provides a balance between theology, philosophy and the human/social sciences.
Theology: This examines 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: This is about finding out how and whether things make sense. It deals with questions of morality and ethics. It takes seriously questions about reality, knowledge and existence.
Human/Social sciences: This explores the diverse ways in which people practice their beliefs, both now and in the past. It engages with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities and societies.
These three disciplines provide the ‘lenses’ through which each enquiry question is approached.
In accordance with the structure of the locally agreed syllabus we have agreed that:
- At KS 1 pupils study primarily Christianity and Judaism, with reference made to other principal religions, beliefs and worldviews.
- At KS 2 pupils study primarily Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, with reference made to other principal religions, beliefs and worldviews (such as Humanism).
In accordance with the Statement of Entitlement (2016), at least 50% of curriculum time is allocated to the teaching of Christianity. This entitlement is met both through the weekly or blocked teaching of RE, and through additional RE days which focus on an aspect of the Christian Faith.
Our RE policy for the school, giving you more information about how RE is taught at school, can be accessed here:
http://www.acleprimary.norfolk.sch.uk/about-our-school/policies/