Religious Education
Curriculum Intent
Here, at Wakefield Methodist Primary School, the aim of Religious Education is to help children acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of the Christian Faith, our vision for the children is that they will be inspired, gain wisdom and discover the opportunities that God has given them through Jesus. It is vital that religious education encourages pupils to develop positive attitudes to their learning and to the beliefs and values of others. The following four attitudes are essential for good learning in religious education and should be developed at each stage or phase of religious education:
- self-awareness.
- respect for all.
- open-mindedness.
- appreciation and wonder.
Our RE curriculum is rich and varied, enabling children to gain a thorough knowledge and understanding of a range of faiths and world views. As a Methodist school, the teaching of Christianity is at the heart of our RE curriculum. Our enquiry approach engages with core theological concepts and pupils' own understanding. We aim to provide opportunities for children to understand and to make links between beliefs, practices and value systems of the range of faiths and world views studied.
We are dedicated to providing high quality, engaging RE teaching and learning opportunities to reflect the importance of RE within our school community.
We believe that RE at Wakefield Methodist School should enable all our children to:
- Know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith, by exploring core theological concepts.
- Develop knowledge and skills in making sense of biblical texts and understanding how they impact the lives of Christians.
- Make connections between their own growing understanding of religion, themselves, the world and human experience.
- Gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews appreciating diversity, continuity and change.
- Recognise the influence of religion on Britain’s cultural heritage and in the lives of individuals and societies in different times, cultures and places.
Curriculum Implementation
At Wakefield Methodist Primary School, we teach RE according to the Wakefield Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (2018 -2023) and use 'Tower Hamlets Religious Education: Support for schools from Sacre’ as a resource to support our teaching of Christianity within this subject.
There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children.
Curriculum Impact
Our RE curriculum is rich and varied, enabling children to gain a thorough knowledge and understanding of a range of faiths and world views. By the time children leave our school they will:
- Ask and offer possible answers to challenging questions about the meaning of life, beliefs, nature of reality and morality.
- Have a secure understanding and knowledge of the religions studied and be confident to answer ultimate questions.
- Have the ability to ask significant and reflective questions about religion and demonstrate a good understanding of issues relating to the nature, truth and value of religion.
- Have a sense of self, identity and belonging to flourish within the community and be responsible citizens.
- Show respect, tolerance and understanding of all religions and beliefs.
- Have a strong understanding of how the beliefs, values, practices and ways of life within any religion come together.
- The ability to link the study of religion and belief to personal reflections on meaning and purpose.
Click the following link to find out more about our religious education curriculum.