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 (https://www.yorkmead.co.uk/our-school/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 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for R.E. (https://www.faithmakesadifference.co.uk/landing). In order to enhance this provision, we have begun to implement the Religion element of the ‘Opening Worlds’ (https://openingworlds.uk/) 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 thoroughness through extensive coverage of foundational stories and texts and therefore, better meets the needs of our children, developing both knowledge 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.
Mrs S.Mutchell (Religious Education Subject Leader)
