Intent
At Tibberton Church of England Primary School, Religious Education plays an important role in defining the school’s distinctive Christian character. We believe that it has a vital role in developing religious literacy and deepening pupils understanding of Christianity and fostering appreciation and understanding of other world faith traditions. We provide our children with opportunities for them to develop their own self-awareness and reflection enabling them to be independent and responsible members of society thus making a positive contribution to the local and global community.
Our Religious Education promotes respect and open-mindedness towards others with different faiths and beliefs and encourages pupils to learn about and from other religions and worldviews in local, national and global contexts. As a result, they will become independent and responsible members of society who can show compassion and understanding towards the diverse religions and worldviews in this modern world.
Implementation
At Tibberton RE is regarded as a core subject within the school’s curriculum and is taught throughout the school, based on the Telford and Wrekin Locally Agreed Syllabus. In addition, the school uses the Lichfield Diocesan RE Guidelines, Understanding Christianity resources and other appropriate materials to enhance teaching and learning. The RE Curriculum is designed to enable children to develop their knowledge, understanding and respect for the traditions and culture of Christianity and the other major world faiths.
Curriculum Journey RE
As a Church of England school we follow the recommendation that greater emphasis is placed on Christianity. We also enrich our curriculum by celebrating Eucharist, Easter, Pentecost, Harvest and Christmas, which often includes services in All Saints Church.
Along side this, it has been agreed that having taken into account the requirements and guidelines presented in the Agreed Syllabus, the other world religions we have selected for focused study are Islam and Judaism. However, other religions may be covered through whole school themes.
Impact
At Tibberton, we envision our curriculum impacting the pupils in the following ways:
- extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs;
- develop a religious vocabulary and interpret religious symbolism in a variety of forms;
- compare similarities and differences between different world faiths, drawing comparisons between the beliefs of world faiths and our core Christian Values and our British Values;
- understand viewpoints of others and be able to adjust their own thinking in the light of others’ opinions;
- reflect on questions of meaning, offering their own thoughtful and informed insights into religious and secular world-views;
- explore ultimate questions of beliefs and values in relation to a range of contemporary issues in an ever-changing society.
Right to Withdraw
We wish to be an inclusive community but recognise that parents have the legal right to withdraw their children from religious education or collective worship on the grounds of conscience, without giving a reason. Parents wishing to exercise this right are asked to write to the headteacher who will then invite the parents into school to discuss their concerns, clarify the nature of the RE and worship provided by the school and set out the options open to the parents as set out in education law. However, the right of withdrawal does not extend to other areas of the curriculum when, as may happen on occasion, spontaneous questions on religious matters are raised by pupils or there are issues related to religion that arise in other subjects. Where a pupil is withdrawn from RE and do not take part in alternative religious education they will be supervised by an appropriate member of staff whilst doing work set by their parents which will seek to further their knowledge and understanding of their parents’ beliefs and values.