Religious Education

 

Background

In our school, Religious Education is taught as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. All pupils receive RE in accordnance with the Guildford Diocese Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. This can be viewed here. Within our website, you will find details about the RE that is taught in each year group.

RE develops children’s knowledge and understanding of the nature of religion and belief. Although Christianity has a central place in the RE curriculum we also study other principal religions, religious traditions and world views, in the context of a diverse society.  We do not seek to use RE to compromise the integrity of pupils’ own beliefs, but instead respect everyone’s right to choose their own faith.  We believe that our approach to RE is an essential way of meeting our obligations under the Prevent duty.  You can read more about our approach in our RE Policy.

 

Right to Withdraw

We expect all pupils to experience the full breadth of our curriculum, but should parents or carers wish to exercise the right of withdrawal for all or part of RE, they should consult the Headteacher.

 

Our Local Church

We also have strong links with All Saints Church in Headley.  Rev. Andrew Barton and Rev. Helen Dempster welcome us to have school services in church to celebrate Harvest, Christmas and Easter.  KS2 visit the church each term to have a traditional church service and to learn about the way in which Christians worship together. Rev. Andrew and Rev. Helen also leads collective worship in school, along with other members of the church community. Family services are held monthly and everyone is very welcome to join them. There is a Sunday School each week in the church hall.  For further information, visit the All Saints Church website or find them here on Facebook.

 

Units of Work

We have chosen to block our RE units of work so that the children can explore them in greater depth.  For each unit of work we create a class book which shows our ideas, questions, activities and learning.  It allows us to develop our understanding in different ways.  Take a look at some of the ways we've been learning:

Year 2 acting out the Parable of the Lost Sheep

Years 5/6 explore Easter in different ways

Godly Play to understand Easter better

Years 5/6 visiting different churches in Portsmouth

Years 1/2 explore the Easter Story in different ways

Rev. Marion tells to Years 2/3  why the Bible is important to her

Year 4 Easter Pause Day, exploring the Easter Story