Religious Education

Intent

The Cambridgeshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education serves as the foundation for Bishop Creighton Academy's RE scheme, which incorporates connections to British Values while reflecting the major religions practised in Cambridgeshire. We aim to offer our children a broad and balanced RE curriculum. We believe that religious education encourages children to reflect on important issues, and that these abilities can be applied to moral, spiritual, and cultural growth in our multicultural school. Our curriculum is created to increase knowledge and understanding of contemporary issues and to promote equality, which values diversity. We want to help our pupils develop a feeling of respect and sensitivity to others, especially those with faiths and beliefs.

Implementation

Teachers follow key questions linked to the themes in the syllabus, allowing links with other subject areas where appropriate.

Lessons are planned and delivered in a variety of ways ensuring that all children can access and participate in lessons. Interactive, practical activities encourage the children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions.

There are also assemblies that take place, in which other faiths are talked about and celebrated, we have faith visitors that come in to deliver story time in assemblies and often attend workshops at Peterborough Cathedral to support learning.

 Legislation requires that:

RE is taught in accordance with the local Agreed Syllabus; at Bishop Creighton we follow the Cambridgeshire County Councils agreed syllabus.

The requirements are that a syllabus must ‘reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in the main, Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain’;

Academies and free schools must teach RE within the requirements for a locally agreed syllabus, set out in section 375 (3) of the Education Act 1996 and paragraph (5) of Schedule 19 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;

Our curriculum for RE ensures that all pupils:

• promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils,
• prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life and all state schools must teach religious education.

At Key Stage One, pupils are taught:

• Christianity – What makes Jesus special? What was life like as Jesus? The meaning of Christmas, what that is and Advent.
• Judaism – What’s involved in the religion and Jewish festivals.
• Islam – Exploration of the religion and the importance of religious stories.
• Compare and contrast religions.

At Key Stage Two, pupils are taught:

• About the diverse religions within the City of Peterborough.
• Christianity – Why Jesus was important, Easter, the meaning of prayer and how the Bible helps us to make moral decisions.
• Sikhism – Exploration of the religion, places of worship and how that impacts on different cultures.
• Judaism – What does it mean to follow the Torah.
• Islam – The five pillars of Islam, the two different Muslim faiths and how they contrast to each other.
• Humanism – What does it mean to be human? How do you make the decisions?
• Compare, contrast and discuss charities and how they link to religion – how does religion help us to make decisions?

Impact

The quality and scope of pupils' work, pupil voice, responses to educational trips, and the learning environment will always be the primary sources of impact. As an academy, we aim to promote a profound understanding and appreciation of different religions in the context of our community and the wider world. British Values and our PSHE teachings further support this vision. By visiting nearby places of worship, the children will be able to explore and comprehend the diverse experience of different faith groups, as well as their core beliefs, and learn to respect the practises of various faiths both inside and outsideof their own community.

Parental Right to Withdraw from Religious Education (RE)

We respect the rights of parents and carers regarding their child’s education. Under current legislation, parents and carers have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of Religious Education (RE) lessons. This includes activities related to Religious Education that do not form part of the statutory National Curriculum.

If you wish to exercise this right, we ask that you inform the school in writing, detailing whether you are withdrawing your child from all or specific parts of the RE curriculum. We are happy to discuss any concerns you may have and provide further information to help you make an informed decision.