Why do we teach RE?
Religious Education is one of the core subjects taught at BPA. As a Church of England academy we are driven by our vision to enrich the lives of our pupils by equipping them to believe in themselves, in others and in God (Luke 27:10), and we believe that the teaching of RE is one of the fundamental ways in this is made possible.
Through effective RE lessons, we aim to give pupils the opportunity to explore the Christian faith, allowing them to develop a rich, deep and coherent understanding of the core concepts of Christianity. In order to do this, we place emphasis on helping the children to make sense of and engage with biblical texts and use a spiral curriculum design which allows pupils to revisit these core concepts at deeper levels as they progress through the school. Our aim in doing this is to equip our pupils to think logically and explore big questions about life, death, meaning and purpose with increasing confidence.
RE at BPA also provides pupils with the chance to learn about other world religions, understanding how their foundational texts, beliefs, rituals and practices shape not only our context as a multi-faith school, but the world around us. By teaching about a variety of faiths and creating opportunities where our children are able to encounter multi-faith leaders and places of worship, we hope to create a safe environment where children are able to ask questions about their own beliefs and the beliefs of others. Our aim is that this will support the spiritual, social, moral and cultural development of our children and will enable them to become informed global citizens equipped with the tools and knowledge to engage with and appreciate a variety of religions and traditions.
We also recognise that we live in a vast and continually changing world with social, moral and religious issues arising frequently. As such, we believe that we have a duty of care, through RE lessons, to equip our pupils with the skills understand the diverse and evolving impact of religion on the lives of individuals and societies in different times, cultures and places. By doing this, we hope our children will leave us as religiously literate individuals who are able to connect, critically reflect on, evaluate and apply their growing understanding of religion to their own lives, the world and human experience.
How do we teach RE?
The RE curriculum at BPA is split into two main areas. The teaching of Christianity and the teaching of other world religions. These different areas of teaching are supported by two distinct resources: Understanding Christianity and The Nottinghamshire Agreed RE Syllabus.
Understanding Christianity
Understanding Christianity is a resource that has been created by the Church of England to support the teaching of Christianity in Church of England schools in the UK. Each year group will use it during 4 out of 6 of their RE topics to teach the core concepts of Christianity. It’s a great resource with 3 core aims:
- To enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith, by exploring core theological concepts
- To enable pupils to develop knowledge and skills in making sense of biblical texts and understanding their impact in the lives of Christians
- To develop pupils’ abilities to connect, critically reflect upon, evaluate and apply their learning to their own growing understanding of religion and belief (particularly Christianity), of themselves, the world and human experience.
Nottinghamshire Agreed Syllabus
The Nottinghamshire Agreed Syllabus is the programme used to inform the teaching of world religions and enquiry. Each year children will be taught one learning module around a world religion and a learning module based on enquiry (e.g. comparing world religions). The Nottingham Agreed Syllabus aims to support children in:
- investigating religions and world views through varied experiences and disciplines
- reflecting on and expressing their own ideas and the ideas of others with increasing creativity and clarity
- becoming increasingly able to be reasonable in their responses to religions and world views.
What do we teach in RE?
To ensure that our children are receiving a broad and balanced curriculum in RE, the content they cover develops in a spiral nature, with children revisiting key themes in greater depth in subsequent school years and being introduced to new themes or world religions as they progress through school.
Click on the icon above to see the progression of content taught throughout each year group.
For further information regarding our RE curriculum, please contact our RE Subject Leader, Mrs Cutteridge.
RE in Action.
Take a look below at some of the things that we have been getting up to in RE over the last half term.