RE 

Our RE curriculum is an ambitious curriculum meeting the needs of all learners and contextualised in the community we serve.

Religious Education at Severnbanks Primary School follows the Discover RE Scheme of Work and we aim to 'engage pupils with questions arising from the study of religion and beliefs so as to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development'. 

RE is a statutory subject in all schools in England, except for those children withdrawn at the request of their parents. (Education Act 2002, section 80). It is parents’ legal right to withdraw their children from Religious Education.

Any child who does not take part will join another class for the duration of the lesson. Parents must discuss this with the Headteacher before making a formal request.

At Severnbanks School, we believe that it is important for children to learn about the beliefs and values held by people in the United Kingdom. The acquisition of skills and attitudes developed through Religious Education are an important part of the development of children’s learning and are crucial for their lives as members of a multicultural society. Underpinning our RE curriculum are our value, vision and curriculum drivers

 

We aim to help our children understand the way that religious beliefs shape our lives and our behaviour and we want to help them to develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues. We intend to provide all our children with the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief. This will enable them to reflect on their own ideas and ways of living. We want our children to make sense of a range of religious and non-religious beliefs in order to appreciate and appraise the significance of different ways of life, both locally and in the wider world. It is also our intention for children to make connections between religious and non-religious beliefs and to challenge ideas and evaluate thoughtfully, with increasing clarity and understanding. Being equipped with a secure level of knowledge will give all children the opportunity to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually particularly as they go to secondary school and in their lives beyond.

 

 

The curriculum offers a structure through which children can encounter diverse religious traditions alongside non-religious world views. We ensure that the topics studied in religious education build upon prior learning. We offer opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit, and we ensure that the planned progression built into the scheme of work offers the children an increasing challenge as they move through the school. 

 

The impact of our RE teaching can be seen in many ways from speaking and listening activities, drama, art, dance, talking to our children and in children’s’ books. In EYFS, KS1 and KS2, we would expect to see progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills.  As a result, children will show ambition, resilience and responsibility as they develop their knowledge and understanding. We envision our RE curriculum impacting on the children in the following ways:

•          extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs
•          develop a religious vocabulary and interpret religious symbolism in a variety of forms
•          reflect on questions of meaning, offering their own thoughtful and informed insights into religious and secular world-views
•          explore ultimate questions of beliefs and values in relation to a range of contemporary issues in an ever-changing society
•          Children are able to reflect on what it means to have a faith and to develop their own spiritual knowledge and understanding

Extra - Curricular Provision

We have special Harvest, Easter and Christingle services at the local church.  Classes are encouraged to visit local places of worship so that the children can have real life experiences of different places of worship. We invite people in to talk about their own faiths, beliefs and practices and children often celebrate different cultural festivals within their own classes. Children are also encouraged to help plan and deliver worship and they take an active role in helping the Open the Book team with re-enacting Bible stories during worship.

Developing the skills of Reading, Writing, Speaking and listening through RE

Opportunities for extended writing in R.E will be provided as it allows the children time to be critical, reflect and write in much more depth about their own ideas and ways of life and those of other people. Children will be encouraged to read extracts from the Bible and translations from other holy books and scriptures, as well as other informative and thought-provoking pieces of writing during RE sessions.