Religious Education
Religious Education at Barrington Primary School
Our Subject Leader for RE is Mrs C Clark
Article 14 (freedom of thought, belief and religion)
Every child has the right to think and believe what they choose and also to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents to guide their child as they grow up.
Intent
As a rights respecting school, Religious education should play a fundamental role in developing the children at Barrington.
Religious Educational should give children perspective, meaning and value to the situations that they find themselves in, every day. It should challenge and question different viewpoints to help to create tolerant, critical thinking and well-rounded children. Children should be encouraged to think critically about different aspects of different religions, drawing on the differences and similarities between them.
Due to an ever-shrinking planet, children should understand different world views and the history that has helped to craft them. Enabling children to see the beauty in difference should be at the forefront of RE teaching along with equipping them with the skills to express their personal views considerately and respectfully – empowering them to be positive members of society.
Teaching should embed a variety of knowledge and understanding and expose children to a wide range of religions and viewpoints. They should be taught the skills needed to respectfully question other viewpoints as well as their own – skills that should be taught throughout all subjects.
The ultimate aim for RE lessons should be to allow children to define their own beliefs and understand that it is okay for other beliefs to differ.
Implementation
At Barrington we follow the RE Agreed Syllabus for Bexley (2021). The units studied focus on questions about life which enable children to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live.
The Agreed Syllabus enables children to develop skills through:
Attainment Target 1 - learning about a religion (i.e. the facts)
Attainment Target 2 - learning from a religion; relating what is learnt to the children's own lives
The Curriculum is divided into three key areas of learning which include:
1) Believing - Religious beliefs, teaching, sources, questions about meaning, purpose and truth
2) Expressing - Religious and spiritual forms of expression; questions about identity and diversity3) Living - Religious practices and ways of living; questions about values and commitments
