Waingroves Primary School

RE (Religious Education)

We are required to teach RE, with a Christian emphasis, by law as the information below clarifies.

Religious Education: Legal Requirements and Curriculum Information

The national curriculum states the legal requirement that:

Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which:

• promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils; and
• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

All state schools ... must teach religious education. (National Curriculum in England: Framework Document, DfE, September 2013, p.4)

Although there is not a National Curriculum for RE, all maintained schools must follow the National Curriculum requirements to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, which includes RE. All maintained schools therefore have a statutory duty to teach RE The RE curriculum is determined by the local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE), which is responsible for producing the locally agreed syllabus for RE. The Agreed Syllabuses used in schools, which are not designated with a religious character ‘must reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain’.

In brief, the law requires that:

• in maintained community, schools without a religious character, like our school , RE is taught in accordance with the local Agreed Syllabus;
• RE must be included in the curriculum for all registered pupils, including all pupils in reception classes.

We follow the Derbyshire syllabus, written by Derbyshire’s SACRE team, where the principal aim of RE in Derbyshire schools is to enable pupils to participate in an on-going search for wisdom, through exploring questions raised by human experience and answers offered by the religions and beliefs of the people of Derbyshire and the wider community, so as to promote their personal development.

At the heart of the curriculum is the intention to enable children and young people to become 'religiously educated' in order to face the demands of the contemporary world.
A 'religiously educated' person is someone who:

• has a depth of understanding and insight into religion and belief, and their impact in the lives of believers and society, including the implication for their own lives;
• is confident and thoughtful about, and able to express, their own beliefs;
• acts in accordance with their beliefs;
• is interested in, and respectful towards, the beliefs of others;
• is interested in building up their understanding of different religions and beliefs;
• is able to think for themselves and recognise where others may be trying to influence them;
• continues to explore the questions of meaning that life throws up in light of the insights of faith.

How we deliver this syllabus is below where the topics covered that have a Christian emphasis are highlighted. The children do an hour of RE a week. We have regular assemblies led by the Methodist Church and Valley Cids(a Christian organisation). Also we visit the Methodist chapel for Harvest and Christmas services as well as the members of the church coming in to support some RE lessons such as the Easter story.

The visits are the nearest places of worship of the other main faiths we have to teach, by law. The visits are led by The Open Centre who are members of SACRE. The children visit the other places of worship with their teachers, helpers, Governors (sometimes) and there is a trained educator who delivers a factual account of their faith. The pupils do not join a religious service or are spoken to by any priest, imam or religious leader.