RE

We aim to provide every child with the opportunity to live ‘‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10). RE is an essential, contributing component to facilitating this within our learning community and aims to celebrate the rich, culturally diverse society that our children are growing up in today. 

As a Church of England we seek to provide our pupils with the opportunity to: acquire a rich, deep knowledge and understanding of Christian belief and practice; interact with Biblical text and theological ideas; and be engaged and challenged through an exploration of core concepts and questions.

Our school values and ethos underpin and drive everything we do here at Henley CofE Primary School. Our Christian vision is seen as an expression of God’s limitless love and grace, illuminating the greatness in everyone, so they can have ‘‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10). It reflects our school’s distinctively inclusive and aspirational culture. This leads everyone here at Henley to live out a bold and empowering spirit that characterises decision making and forward planning by leaders and governors.

Religious education contributes dynamically to children and young people’s education in schools by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. In RE children learn about and from religions and world views in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. They learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response and to agree or disagree respectfully. Teaching therefore should equip pupils with systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and world views, enabling them to develop their ideas, values and identities. It should develop in pupils an aptitude for dialogue so that they can participate positively in our society with its diverse religions and world views. Pupils should gain and deploy the skills needed to understand, interpret and evaluate texts, sources of wisdom and authority and other evidence. They learn to articulate clearly and coherently their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences while respecting the right of others to difference.

National Curriculum

At Henley CofE Primary School we follow the Warwickshire Agreed Syllabus from EYFS-Year Six. Each year group focuses on at least 2 world faiths, one of which is Christianity. Year 6 will focus on Humanism. All year groups discuss people with no faith. Our syllabus encourages the children to ask those philosophical ‘big questions’. The pupils reflect on the teachings of the faith, their personal views and the actions of followers in today’s society. 

The Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in Warwickshire contains the requirements for religious education as laid down in the relevant Education acts. It highlights some of the features which make religious education important, and demonstrates how it can support the values and aims of the school curriculum. The Syllabus also demonstrates clearly how religious education contributes to learning across the curriculum and to the general teaching requirements of the national curriculum.

Which values underpin the curriculum content?

RE plays an important part in the life of the school, contributing to the school’s Christian ethos and many of the school’s Christian Values are evident within its teaching. RE teaching of different world faiths encourages children to develop a sense of identity and belonging whilst simultaneously promoting a culture of respect. Through studying different biblical stories, children are presented with key values such as forgiveness, justice and trust, which allow for thought provoking discussion and debate. Some children will be able to identify with values such as hope and through learning from religion, a sense of peace. Children will learn about the importance of community to different world religions, as well as the compassion and service which are essential to their practice. RE will demonstrate that joy can be found within religion and enable children to explore their own understanding of this.

How are British Values taught from RE?

The British Values are:

• Democracy

• The rule of law

• Individual liberty

• Mutual respect

• Tolerance of those with different beliefs

Teaching of RE at Henley CofE Primary School we should provide the opportunity for reflection, discussion, dialogue and debate which enables the children to think about the British Values. RE classrooms should be democratic, where children have equal rights to be heard. In RE, children will examine different codes for living and consider the rule of law, where all people are equal before the law. They consider questions about identify and belonging and how mutual tolerance and respect is important to our society. Religion is an excellent tool for considering individual liberty and the greater good.