RE
"RE is like an iceberg. As you unpack ideas, you come to understand a deeper meaning."
Subject Overview:
RE, taught well, provides a safe space to discuss, experience and respond well to difference – a space where students can engage with controversial issues and learn to disagree respectfully with each other. This can play a key role in fostering good relationships between different groups within the school and in later adult life.
RE can contribute a great deal to mutual understanding in a multi-ethnic society. While it can be quite straightforward to cover the factual information about the rituals and observances and meeting places of different faiths, there is far more that it can do. RE also has the potential to develop pupils’ understanding of the diversity that often exists within, as well as between faiths: after all, most faiths encompass a spectrum of views, from liberal to conservative.
Subject Intent:
Religion and beliefs inform our values and are reflected in what we say and how we behave. RE is an important subject in developing knowledge and understanding of the religions and beliefs, which form our society. The subject provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God and issues of right and wrong. We aim to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of other principal religions.
As a faith school, the majority of our children share the same religious belief, therefore they have limited exposure or knowledge of other religions. This places an integral role on teachers to provide an understanding of wider religious traditions and worldviews.
The subject gives particular opportunities to promote our school ethos of peace, unity, equality. To challenge stereotypes and build understanding of other cultures and beliefs. This contributes to promoting a positive and inclusive school.
RE contributes to other parts of the curriculum such as PSHE and circle time. It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development, deepening the understanding of the significance of religion in the lives of others – individually, communally and cross-culturally.