Religious Education

Our Vision for Religious Education

Religious education in a Church school should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10).

At St Paul's our Religious Education is very important to us! We explore in depth the beliefs, practices, symbols and actions of Christianity through core concepts including God, Creation, The Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and the Kingdom of God. We also enjoy learning about Islam, Hinduism and Judaism during our RE lessons. Every year we go to visit a place of worship or have the opportunity to meet a visitor from another faith. Keep an eye on this page to see what different classes have experienced in RE throughout the year. 

Please have a look in our Sacred Space in the Sound Garden opposite the KS1 playground where the Worship Group are in the process of creating a prayer space. We have created new resources and we look forward to using it soon as a place of quiet and reflection.

What does RE look like at St Paul's?

Intent

Pupils and their families at St Paul’s can expect an RE curriculum that enables pupils to acquire a rich, deep knowledge and understanding of Christian belief and practice, including the ways in which it is unique and diverse. Teaching and learning in our Church school will use an approach that engages with biblical text and theological ideas. Our RE curriculum will engage and challenge our pupils through an exploration of core concepts and questions. We also use this approach when learning about other world faiths to ensure that our children are able to go on to have a deeper understanding of others and religiously literate conversations as they enter the wider world. 

Implementation

The order of our units and the faiths that we teach explicitly, have been carefully considered. Through the use of Understanding Christianity, our approach to teaching about Christianity builds up pupils’ encounters with biblical concepts through texts, placing them within the wider Bible story. The children will encounter core concepts throughout each key stage allowing them to develop their wider religious, theological and cultural literacy. We teach RE for a minimum of 1 hour per week. Two thirds of our curriculum is Christianity and the other third is on either Islam, Judaism or Hinduism. In Upper Key stage 2 we also consider other religions and world views. The use of our new knowledge organisers supports the understanding of key vocabulary and vocabulary and for revision of prior knowledge. We use a wide range of resources including Understanding Christianity, Picturing Jesus and Picturing Christianity to develop their knowledge of Christianity as a living faith. Our RE lessons also include Godly Play, regular use of the Sacred Space and the Prayer Trail. We also have an RE Day annually with a focus on either Sikhism, Buddhism or Christianity.

Impact

By the time the children at St. Paul’s leave our school, they will be able to:

• Talk confidently about their beliefs, morals and cultural development for the society in which they live and be able to ask and answer questions about religion with informed opinions.
• Show respect, tolerance and understanding for all those around them including themselves. Produce high quality work showcasing a deep understanding of the main religions of the world, their community and their future.
• Demonstrate their understanding of religion through use of the correct vocabulary, explanations and respectful opinions, as well as cross-curricular evidence, for example religious and cultural art work, drama, craft and presentations.

We have high expectations of progress and achievement in the assessment of Christianity. The impact will be seen by all teachers and children enjoying the experience of teaching and learning RE and understanding how it can help them in their future.