RE

As a Methodist School, we place a huge amount of importance on the Religious Education of our pupils. High quality RE teaching aims to make a major contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all pupils by helping them to acquire the knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other major religions represented in Britain today. Although work on Christianity will be dominant there will be in-depth work on other major world religions and their beliefs and customs. Teaching will seek to bring about an informed understanding of these religions and allow children to develop the skills to be able to empathise and respect the diverse world in which they live. RE teaching will also help children to develop their own beliefs and values through the opportunity to investigate and reflect upon a series of key questions. Teachers will give children the chance to reflect upon their own lives in relation to what they have learnt in RE by making relevant links where possible. Teaching will enable pupils to gain something of personal value by engaging pupils in an enquiry based style of learning. Through a variety of teaching techniques including the use of drama, art, debate and discussion, the study of artefacts, stories and pictures, pupils have the opportunity to learn both about religion and from religion.

Aims

RE in this school aims to:

• Enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity. Pupils will develop a knowledge of the faith and an understanding of its impact upon the lives of Christians today.
• Enable pupils to know about and understand other major world faiths. Children will develop an understanding of world faiths which will enable them to express informed insights about these faiths.
• Provide children with another opportunity to reflect upon and develop their own beliefs and opinions in relation to what they are taught.

Objectives

The expectation is that by the end of primary school education all pupils are religiously literate and are able to:

• Give an informed account of Christianity and discuss the way in which being a Christian impacts the everyday life of believers.
• Show an informed and respectful attitude towards world faiths.
• Engage in meaningful and informed dialogue discussing ideas relating to different faiths and beliefs.
• Respond to an idea or belief by reflecting upon his or her own personal opinions and beliefs.

At Boughton-under-Blean and Dunkirk Methodist School we follow the Kent Agreed Syllabus for RE and a link to the long-term plan is included below.