Religious Education

The Religious Education curriculum at the Deanery has been designed using a conceptual enquiry approach exploring key Christian concepts using the scheme Understanding Christianity and exploring other world faiths and world views, as well as Christianity, using the Living Difference (HIAS) scheme.  Both of these schemes aim to produce theologically literate pupils.  Class teachers deliver Religious Education weekly through a variety of teaching and learning methods as well as using a cross curricula approach. 

Religious Education is taught in half termly units of work and complies with the government recommended time allocation for key stages one and two.  The curriculum is designed to be a spiral curriculum with key concepts being revisited at a deeper level in higher year groups.

Visits to places of worship and visits from guest speakers will be included as part of the curriculum.  These, along with the use of artefacts, story, drama and visual aids will be used to stimulate the children's knowledge and experience.  All parents have the right to withdraw their child from Religious Education.  However before exercising their right of withdrawal, parents should discuss this matter with Mrs Luckett.

Religious Education is central to the understanding of education and our school. 
The aims of Religious Education in our school are:

• To enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living faith that influences the lives of people worldwide and as the religion that has most shaped British culture and heritage.
• To enable pupils to know and understand about other major world religions and world views, their impact on society, culture and the wider world, enabling pupils to express ideas and insights.
• To contribute to the development of pupils’ own spiritual/philosophical convictions, exploring and enriching their own beliefs and values.
•  To listen to the opinions of others respectfully, developing empathy
• To develop questioning skills and evaluate evidence
• To develop an understanding of moral issues

The outcomes for our pupils at the end of their primary education at the Deanery are that they are able to:

• Explain connections between Biblical texts and the key concepts studied, using theological terms
• Make clear connections between Bible texts and concepts and how Christians behave in their whole lives, their Church communities and the wider world
• Weigh up how Biblical ideas and teaching relate to issues in the world today, developing insights of their own
• Explain key concepts that are common to all people, those that are common to many religions and some that are particular to a specific religion
• Explain ways in which a concept can be seen in the way believers of the particular religion live their lives. 
• Explain the value of the concept to people of the particular religion(s) and describe in increasing detail some of the issues that this raises
• Explain their own response to the human experience of the concepts and explain examples of how this relates to their own life and the lives of other people.
• Give a theologically informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith.
• Show an informed and respectful attitude to religions and world views in their search for God and meaning.
• Engage in meaningful and informed dialogue with those of other faiths and none.
• Reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.

Click here to see an overview of our Religious Education Curriculum.