Religious Education and Collective Worship

Intent

RE has an imperative part to play in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, cultural as well as behaviour, emotional and intellectual development of our pupils. At Raddlebarn Primary School, we believe that it is important for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, gain a greater understanding of themselves and a more compassionate awareness of the world and the people in it as this will better equip them to cope with the responsibilities and experiences of adult life. We want our children to have the opportunity to identify, share and discuss the deepest values of human life and develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religions and non-religious worldviews.   

To promote the ideas of our school vision, we believe that education in RE should be an exciting and child-centred journey. Children will learn to understand the world and their place in it, know that all members of the school community must show respect and tolerance for others and develop a better cultural awareness.

Implementation

At Raddlebarn, we follow the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education developed by Birmingham City Council as the basis of our curriculum. It follows 24 moral and cultural dispositions which cultivate and inspire children’s understanding of different faiths and on-religious worldviews. The dispositions are split into four tangible, interconnected aspects, which are:

• Learning from experience
• Learning about Religious Traditions and non-religious worldviews
• Learning from Religious Traditions and non-religious worldviews
• Learning to Discern

Through this syllabus, children will learn about the following religious traditions as well as non-religious worldviews:

• Christianity
• Islam
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Sikhism
• Bahá’í
• Jainism
• Rastafari
• Agnosticism
• Atheism
• Humanism
• Secularism
• Nones (Those beyond religious traditions and non-religious world views.)

Alongside this, we offer children the opportunity to learn about different faiths in a multi-sensory, immersive and captivating environment, which in turn, will engage the pupils more. This is done through using real artefacts to teach children of religious traditions and various other sensory methods and setting up the classroom as a stage to set religious scenes.

In addition to this, we are extremely lucky to have great links with our local faith community which allows children to have the opportunity to visit different places of worship as well as have visits and assembles led by representatives of different faiths.

RE plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, particularly PSHE, in promoting social awareness and understanding in our children. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We include and promote British Values, ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as UK citizens.

Raddlebarn Primary and Nursery School is not affiliated to a particular religious denomination, therefore 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. The daily act of collective worship is non-denominational and although they are of a broadly Christian nature, due consideration is given to the multicultural society in which we live. Thus, all religions and their communities, pupils and staff are treated with respect and sensitivity.

Impact

The children at Raddlebarn Primary School enjoy learning about the different Religious Traditions and non-religious worldviews and demonstrate a positive attitude towards people of any religion or worldview. They demonstrate respectful attitudes towards different cultural and religious practices, symbols, items and languages as well as having a great understanding of complex values such as friendship, trust, equality, tolerance, and many others. This is not only measurable in the work produced in class and in books, but also through the behaviour displayed by our children within the school which is transferable to the wider community. At Raddlebarn, children feel confident in sharing their views and opinions with their peers and the adults teaching them, which has been made easier through experiential RE lessons, visits to places of worship, the celebration of festivals, and visits from people of different faiths. This has created tolerance, developed better cultural awareness of the diverse society in which they live as well as respect for all people at school and those that live in their community.

Key Concepts

At Raddlebarn we have agreed the following areas to be the key concepts that will be taught through this area of the Religious curriculum:

Supporting Documents:

RE Overview

RE Progression Grid