RE

Religious Education

Subject Leader – Hayley Kennerley

At Pendle Primary School we understand the need to prepare children to be well-rounded, active participants in their community. One of the ways we aim to do this is by providing children with knowledge and understanding of a variety of religious beliefs.

The teaching of RE therefore includes, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. We do however spend more hours teaching Christianity in accordance with national guidelines.

The latest demographic profiling information from Ribble Valley Borough Council shows that the Ribble Valley is 85.31% Christian, 8.22% No Religion, 0.61% Muslim, 0.12% Buddhist, 0.01% Sikh, 0.14% Hindu and 0.05% Jewish. This data is also reflected in the cohort of pupils in school, with the majority being Christian or of no religion and a minority of other faiths. We are also aware through studying data that there seems to be an increasing number of pupils starting school specified as having no religion.

The impact of studying this data has developed recognition of the need to enable our children to have the necessary knowledge, understanding and tolerance to live in a multi-cultural, multi-faith society, preparing them for adult life. We want our children to know how religious education enables them to combat prejudice and develop an ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues.

RE is taught in accordance with the Lancashire agreed syllabus for Religious Education 2021. The syllabus is ambitious for all pupils and outlines the curriculum intent and methods of implementation that will enable all pupils to achieve well and attain high level outcomes by the end of each Key Stage. The syllabus specifies knowledge and skills which build towards clear goals at the end of each key stage. This ensures that the curriculum is progressive, clearly sequenced and suitably ambitious.

The Foundation Stage and classes with reception children follow the Lancashire SACRE EYFS RE units alongside the Statutory Early Years Framework through the strand ‘People and Communities’ within the area of development entitled ‘Understanding the World’. As the framework states 'It is good practice for all early years’ settings  to teach children to respect and celebrate each other’s differences by developing an understanding of diversity beyond their immediate family experience.' 

We believe through the teaching of RE we can contribute to pupils’ personal development and well-being and develop community cohesion by promoting mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse society. We work with Building Bridges in Burnley who work in partnership with Lancashire SACRE to provide our school with specialist support to bring Religious Education to life and promote community cohesion. Through this support we are able to enrich the children’s learning through regular faith visitors coming into school, visits to places of worship and special assemblies hosted by visitors of faith in school.

We also subscribe to Muslim Learner Services who offer support, resources and staff CPD to enhance teaching and learning opportunities.

We have many children in school who are incredibly knowledgeable and proud of their faith. These children voluntarily nominate themselves to become a Faith Ambassador in school. 

The role of a Faith Ambassador may involve some of the following tasks:

• Speaking during RE lessons associated to their faith including involvement in Q & A sessions.
• Assisting organising and evaluating RE resources.
• Assisting delivering assemblies related to their faith.

Aims

Through RE, we aim to provide opportunities for children to:

• develop an awareness of spiritual and moral issues in life experiences
• develop knowledge and understanding of major world religions and British Values in particular tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.
• develop their sense of identity and belonging, preparing them for life as citizens in a multi-faith society
• develop an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition
• develop enquiry and response skills through the use of distinctive language, listening and empathy
• be able to reflect on their own experiences and to develop a personal response to the fundamental questions of life
• develop an understanding of religious traditions and beliefs and to appreciate the cultural differences in Britain today
• develop investigative and research skills that enable them to make reasoned judgements about religious issues
• have respect for other peoples’ views and to celebrate the diversity in society

There is a legal right of parental withdrawal from RE. Parents have a legal right to withdraw their child/children from part of or the whole of the RE curriculum provided by the school. The school teaches open minded religious education which is fully inclusive. The aim is for all pupils to develop their own beliefs and values. Any parent considering exercising the right of withdrawal is invited to make an appointment with staff to discuss the
approach we take to the teaching of RE.