Religious Education (R.E.) explores big questions about life and helps our children to recognise that the world is vast, fascinating and a source of deep enrichment for us all. Children learn about the world’s beliefs and the difference these make to how different people lead their lives.
We value all of our pupils as the unique individuals they are and celebrate them through R.E. experiences, including collective worship, assemblies and special days. Our shared values underpin the ethos of the school and impact on the way we teach R.E. Through our R.E. curriculum, our children gain a wider knowledge of the world, understand different faiths and communities and learn to respect these differences. We encourage children to reflect on their own beliefs and perspectives, religious or otherwise, and share these reflections with their multi-faith peers, learning to both agree and disagree respectfully.
As a maintained school in the city of Birmingham, we follow the statutory elements of the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for R.E. available on the Birmingham City Council website here.
In order to enhance our provision, we have implemented the Religion element of the ‘Opening Worlds’ programme of study in Key Stage Two. We believe The Opening Worlds Humanities ‘Religion’ curriculum addresses all the objectives and content specified by the locally agreed syllabus and are working with St Matthew’s Research School (https://researchschool.org.uk/stmatthews) to demonstrate this.
The same material is covered in a slightly different configuration, with additional robustness through extensive coverage of foundational stories and texts and therefore, better meets the needs of our children, developing both knowledge of the world’s religions and literacy, including oracy.
The knowledge and understanding of our world’s diverse religions, delivered though our R.E. curriculum, prepares children to be empathetic, open minded members of society while also equipping them with a firm foundation for their secondary education.
Parents may request that their child is withdrawn from specific R.E. lessons but should be aware that while the school will ensure the child is supervised away from their class, it is unlikely that there will be capacity to provide additional teaching. Furthermore, aspects of faith and religion will be encountered in the wider curriculum where there is no right to withdraw. It is our belief, due to the interconnectedness of our curriculum, missing aspects of the Religion scheme of work will hinder children’s attainment in history, geography and even art but should you wish to exercise this right please put the request in writing and make an appointment to discuss this with Mr Newman-Smith.
Mrs S.Mutchell (Religious Education Subject Leader)
