Religious Education

Intent

 At St. Philip’s School, the Religious Education provided follows the rites, practices and doctrines of the Church of England. Our challenging and robust RE curriculum is based on an accurate theological framework and aims 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;
• 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;
• Contribute to the development of pupils’ own spiritual/philosophical convictions, exploring and enriching their own beliefs and values.

Appropriate to age at the end of their education at St Philip’s, the expectation is that all pupils are religiously literate and, as a minimum, pupils are able to:

• 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.

At St Philip’s, we aim to provide a warm, welcoming, family atmosphere, guided by the values and beliefs of our Christian faith. We strive to build a community which promotes love, respect and consideration for all. A curriculum that introduces pupils to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens and supports them to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement. 

We also strive to promote an understanding of cultures and religions other than Christianity. Through the exploration of texts, beliefs, and practices lived out worldwide, our pupils will develop respect and understanding. Cultural diversity is recognised and celebrated as we aim to break down the barriers and build communities. Our children are given the opportunities to explore and challenge a range of values, attitudes, beliefs, rights and responsibilities.

At the heart of our curriculum sit our core Christian values and our three key values, which are:

                                                       Love, Respect, Hope

Implementation

Our curriculum follows the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education R.E. Syllabus for Church Schools.  This is entitled Questful R.E. and is creative and challenging for our children in school.  It incorporates a programme of study called Understanding Christianity. Understanding Christianity bases Christianity within a framework called "God’s Big Story," which develops an understanding of the Old Testament and the New Testament and supports children to sequence the timeline of the Bible.

RE is taught in single years groups except in Class Marsden (Year 3/4) and Class Towneley (Year4/5). We follow a cycle A/B programme across both key stages.

For each unit, a series of inspiring lessons are planned, with clear knowledge-based learning objectives and progressive subject-specific vocabulary. Although key celebrations such as Christmas and Easter may be visited many times during a child’s time in school, a different aspect and learning experience will be covered, so that progression can be seen in the quality and depth of learning.

Our pupils are challenged through reflective questioning and enquiry based learning. We use additional teaching resources such as Understanding Christianity and Picturing Christianity which can be used by teachers to promote the reflective thinking and questioning, and encourage our children to dive deeper into their learning journey. Teachers assess learning in Religious Education against the Blackburn Diocese ladder of expectation. Our curriculum is delivered through highly effective quality first teaching.

At St Philip’s, Religious Education is taught every week and visits from the local clergy are encouraged. Our local vicar, Reverend Lorelli Hilliard plays an active role on our school community and supports our worship and Religious Education lessons within school.

Evidence of work in Religious Education can be found in children’s RE books, on wall displays, in collective worship, in class worship and in the way both children and adults treat and respect each other. Each class have their own floor book that they begin in KS1 which moves up with them as they grow so that they can reflect on their spiritual journey throughout their years at St Philip's. Each year, we also design and create our own class crosses along with a supporting biblical verse, which helps to create unity and strengthens our ethos of working together. These can also be found on our class pages.

Enrichment opportunities, including outdoor learning, inspirational visitors (Christianity and other faiths) and exciting educational visits, provide our children with rich experiences and enhance teaching, learning and knowledge. Our Religious Education curriculum promotes children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development, ensuring that they are reflective and responsible citizens. Fundamental British Values are actively promoted in Religious Education lessons in order to prepare the children for life in Modern Britain.

Christianity is central to the teaching of Religious Education, taking up 80% of the available time. Teaching other world faiths and world views are also included.

In addition to the RE curriculum, the children take part in a daily act of Worship; some of these involve outdoor worship in our outside worship area. Each key stage has their own worship box that provides them with activities and Bible reading that they can explore in the worship areas outside during play time and lunch times. Daily prayer is delivered in class at morning registration, lunch time and home time. These prayers are displayed in every classroom. Every class has its own reflection area and prayer wall which are created by the children.

Impact

Learning in Religious Education will be enjoyed throughout school. Teachers will have high expectations and high quality evidence presented in a variety of forms. Our children will have an education that will develop them spiritually, socially, academically, emotionally and morally to enable them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world.

Class Floor Books

At St Philip’s we are very proud of our floor books. These are begun in KS1 and each book moves up with the class as they grow, so that they can reflect on their spiritual journey throughout their years at St Philip's.

Within each floor book, the children demonstrate evidence of analysis and interpretation, enquiry, reflection thinking, discussion and application of RE across the year. They contain annotated photographs of the children engaging in learning and experiences, reflective writing opportunities, and questioning and discussions, which are linked to our Agreed RE Syllabus. They also provide an opportunity for the children to look back at what they have learnt over their time at St. Philip’s and the children are able to access their floor book during the day and in personal reading time. Take a look at some of the wonderful ideas the children in school chose to share!

The Archbishop of York Youth Trust Young Leaders Award

The Archbishops' Young Leaders Award was established by Dr John Sentamu, the 97th Archbishop of York, in 2009. The trust believes that every young person is unique, of great worth, and has the potential to change our communities for the better. The Award exists to empower young people to serve their generation, putting the needs of others before themselves, as displayed in the life of Jesus and people from many faith traditions.

At St Philip's, we undertake this award in both KS1 and KS2. We strive to empower our children to be the best that they can be by living out our school vision, with Christ as our guide:

G uide our children to prepare them for life;

Respect themselves and one another;

Aspire to acheive their highest potential;

Care for the local and wider community;

Every child is special in God's eyes.

2022-2023

Thursday 22nd September 2022

2021-2022

This year was a great success in both Class Barley and Class Wycoller. We saw our children develop in confidence, resilience and teamwork. Take a look at some of our amazing achievements throughout the year!

Religious Education Long Term Plan 2022-2023 

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