Religious Education

Religious Education

Religious Education enables children to investigate and reflect on some of the most fundamental questions asked by people. At St Luke’s School we develop the children’s knowledge and understanding of the major world faiths and we address the fundamental questions in life, for example, the meaning of life and the existence of a divine spirit. We enable children to develop a sound knowledge, not only of Christianity, but also of other world religions, especially those that are the main faiths of children within our school. Children reflect on what it means to have a faith and to develop their own spiritual knowledge and understanding. We help the children learn from religions as well as about religions.

The aims of religious education are to help children:

Develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other major world religions and value systems found in Britain;
Develop an awareness of spiritual and moral issues in life experiences;
Develop an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition;
Be able to reflect on their own experiences and to develop a personal response to the fundamental questions of life;
Develop investigative and research skills and to enable them to make reasoned judgements about religious issues;
To have respect for other people’s views and to celebrate the diversity in society;
Appreciate the ways that religion is conveyed in stories, myths, rituals, symbols, artefacts, art, music and drama.

Teaching and learning style

We base our teaching and learning style in RE on the key principle that good teaching in RE allows children both to learn about religious traditions and reflect on what the religious ideas and concepts mean to them. Using Philiosophy for Children (P4C) as well as Godly Play promotes open discussion, as well as enabling children to extend their own sense of values and promote spiritual growth and development. We encourage children to think about their own views and values in relation to the themes and topics studied in the RE curriculum.

Our teaching and learning styles in RE enable children to build on their own experiences and extend their knowledge and understanding of religious traditions. We use their experiences at religious festivals such as Easter, Diwali, Eid, etc to develop their religious thinking. In addition, each class during the school year takes part in a RE visit, which may include a place of worship or a venue displaying religious imagery or artifacts, to enhance learning and understanding.

Children carry out research into religious topics. They study particular religious faiths and also compare the religious views of different faith groups. Children discuss religious and moral issues both working individually and in groups.

The clergy from St Giles’, St Clement’s or Wesley’s Chapel lead weekly school assemblies and support class teaching. As a school, we also visit St Giles’ Church, St Clement’s Church or Wesley’s Chapel to celebrate key events in the Christian calendar.

We recognize the fact that all classes in our school have children of widely differing abilities, and so we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this in a variety of ways, for example by:

Setting common tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;
Setting tasks of increasing difficulty (we do not expect all children to complete all tasks);
Providing resources of different complexity, adapted to the ability of the child;
Using classroom assistants to support the work of individuals or groups of children. eg by scribing children’s ideas and comments.

Curriculum planning in Religious Education

Since September 2016, our school uses the new LDBS syllabus to teach RE. The new syllabus consists of units lasting from two to six weeks including two half terms per year learning about faiths other than Christianity. Each unit begins with a question which during the unit is investigated using a variety of approaches.

Foundation stage

We teach RE to all children in the school, including those in the Reception and Nursery class.

In Early Years, RE is an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. RE is covered as part of Understanding the World covering objectives set out in the Development Matters and Early Learning Goals which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five.