RE

Through faith, love, kindness and respect our St John's family will flourish and grow

Religious Education

Manager: Mrs Brown

Email:browd439@mastacademy.co.uk

The school is distinctive in character as a Church of England Primary School. The work in both Religious Education and Collective Worship emphasises the Christian way of life and promotes Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural development. Pupils recite the school vision daily:

Through faith, love, kindness and respect our St John’s family will flourish and grow

Intent

At St John's, the RE curriculum runs central to our daily practises as a community, but also through the provision of an ambitious, broad and balanced curriculum that meets the contextual needs of our setting.

Through our RE curriculum, all members of the St John's family are provided the opportunity to engage in:

A well-established, creative curriculum that can be enjoyed that emphasises the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of all pupils.
A progressive curriculum that is built upon each year providing both knowledge and skills development so all children can achieve well.
A curriculum that cements our school values of love, kindness, faith and respect.
Opportunities to learn about the wider world for their own personal development and mental wellbeing.

Implementation

The RE curriculum at St John's is implemented through use of resources from Rochester Diocese ‘Understanding Christianity’. This base provides:

In-depth analysis of Christianity beyond just knowledge, but opportunities for personal and spiritual development.
Creation, the fall, incarnation, the gospels, the Kingdom of God and Salvation to be studied and revisited across their time with us in school; widening their understanding of critical events but most significantly, making connections between faith, action and forming their own moral groundings.
Exploration of other faiths beyond Christianity fostering the acceptance we reiterate through our school values, whilst preparing them for life in 21^st century Britain.
Challenge for pupils to make connections between their prior learning and past units ensuring they are forming wholesome opinions based on real world factors.
Rigorous assessments at the end of each lesson identifying whether they have attained the core focus of the lesson, their understanding and participation in critical discussions.
Opportunities for pupils to evaluate and analyse the behaviours and attitudes of those of different faiths and appraise their impact in the modern world for the personal development of each individual pupil.
Religious Education as a subject is taught discretely at our school to every class every week

Impact

As children progress through the RE curriculum at St John's, they become:

Critical thinkers who enjoy voicing their opinions on philosophical questions using the theological groundings they have developed here.
Confident leading discourse on the diverse experiences of those around them evidenced through their response to challenge work.
Experts of our local community and inclusive towards whoever they encounter in the wider world.
Reflective of their own place in the world and their ability to achieve
Supportive and respectful members of our society; able to attain if not exceed national statistics, as they enter 21^stCentury Britain.

Collective Worship

A daily act of worship is undertaken where we gather together as a school, engage the children in the act of worship, reflect on what they have learned and then send them off with a view to incorporate this learning into their daily lives. A daily prayer or reflection is included in this time. Throughout the day, pupils are provided with opportunities to pray in the morning, before lunch and when leaving school.

Through all of the above, pupils develop an awareness of and respect for the beliefs and feelings of those within the school and wider community.

We visit our local Church (St John's, Chatham) across the school year for events such as, Harvest, Christmas, Easter and to celebrate our leavers moving on to junior schools. Parents are invited to join us at these services to celebrate and worship on together.

Challenge work in RE

In every RE lesson that we deliver, we include challenges as a matter of course. Our children are regularly called upon in class to compare and contrast the practises and beliefs of different faiths - they love a challenge to extend their thinking beyond the norm!

Ideas for more RE fun at home

If you wish to participate in some RE activities with your child at home visit the websites below:

ministry-to-children.com/kids-sunday-school-games/#gsc.tab=0

christiananswers.net/kids/menu-act.html

www.teachingexpertise.com/classroom-ideas/bible-games-and-activities-for-kids/

childrensministry.com/indoor-sunday-school-games/

Key Documentation - September 2023