Children enjoy RE lessons and make good progress through the school. An enquiry based approach is used which
supports the development of key skills such as interpretation, evaluation and analysis. As a result, children are
eager to share their knowledge and understanding of Christianity. RE supports the children’s understanding of the distinctiveness of their school as a church school. SMSC development and understanding of the school’s core Christian values are a key feature of many lessons.’

SIAMs Report 2016

The school follows the Religious Education Syllabus devised by Blackburn Diocese and incorporates a wide range of topics centered on Christian teaching. Lessons include many aspects of the Christian faith including increasing the knowledge of the Bible; relating religious teaching to current society and understanding the significance of main events in the church’s calendar. Some topics are revisited each year so that children may increase their understanding in line with their increasing maturity.

As not all of our children are Christians, parents do have the right to withdraw children from worship and Religious Education lessons. Alternative provision for a child’s education would be made should a parent wish this. Currently, all parents, including those of other faiths, choose for their children to take part in all of our worship and curriculum arrangements. Either way our school will always uphold and fully respect parents’ wishes.

‘I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.’ Philippians 4:13

RE policy November 2023
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Intent:

Hoole St Michael’s ethos is ‘Achieving excellence within the light of God.’ This key statement underpins all our teaching. RE is taught weekly and we enrich our teaching and worship through our Christian Value each half term. These values help guide and support our pupils and staff daily. Our worships, behaviour polices and teaching all encourage our school community to follow in God’s example. As a Church of England Primary School we aim to give all children the best RE teaching and experiences, in each year group (we have a two-year rolling programme) in an inspiring, engaging and challenging way.

RE is taught by creative and enthusiastic teachers who encourage our pupils to listen, talk, share and question. We encourage happy, confident and passionate learners who take responsibility for their own learning and share ideas, ask the big questions and can answer thoughtfully and respectfully.

Our SMRC learning is rooted within our Christian faith but with a compassionate, understanding and an inquisitive nature for other cultures and faiths. We respect the cultural diversity of our world and celebrate those differences whilst understanding some of the similarities we have too. We teach Christianity as a worldwide faith alongside other world faiths.

Implementation:

To ensure that high standards of teaching and learning occur in RE, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Planning for RE starts with the Blackburn Diocese planning and ‘Understanding the World’ in the Early Years Foundation Stage. RE teaching at involves adapting and extending the curriculum to match all pupils’ needs. We build upon prior learning from previous years and units to ensure by Year 6 children have covered a breath of Christian and non-Christian units. As the children’s knowledge of the Bible and world faiths develop the children are able to answer more challenging questions and develop their own view of the world.

Impact:

At Hoole St. Michael the children are interested, enthusiastic and engaged with RE. There is a clear progression of children’s work and teachers’ expectations in our school. We have teachers that love to teach the subject and an ethos where Christianity and our Christian Values is at the heart of our school.

Our aim is to ensure all children leave Hoole St Michael as brave, thoughtful, kind and tolerant citizens, who have a strong understanding of Christianity and other world faiths.

The Role of other Faiths and Cultures

Our school promotes the fundamental British value of respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

As part of our aim to help children fully embrace society and the wider world community, other faiths are valued and treated with respect.

Our RE syllabus, created by Blackburn Diocese, incorporates the teaching of two other main world religions. As such, whilst the majority of the curriculum is centred around Christianity, some time will be spent on Judaism and Islam. To enhance our curriculum and the experiences of our children we have set up links and visits to places of worship from different faiths. Every child will visit a Hindu Temple, Jewish Synagogue, Islam Mosque and Buddhist Centre.

Blackburn Diocesan board of education website: http://www.bdeducation.org.uk

All children at Hoole St. Michael are encouraged to embrace the diversity of life offered within our world. We work towards this goal through education against ignorance. Wherever possible, we look to visitors to help support our aim so that learning is accurate, meaningful and enjoyable.

The RE Subject Leaders are Mrs Lever and Mrs Cookson

The Collective Worship Leader is Mrs Price