Religious Education policy document can be found on the School Policies page
At St. Michael in the Hamlet Community Primary School we follow the Liverpool Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (SACRE) from years 1 to 6. In order to promote depth of knowledge, we teach SMITH pupils about all the major religions and world views represented locally, nationally and globally. Our RE curriculum is reflective of our school S.M.I.T.H vision. We are committed to providing inclusive, inspirational and innovational teaching, delivering a rich and broad-based curriculum that motivates our children to love learning. We want our pupils to feel safe and inspired to fulfil their true potential.
- Weekly lessons explore the beliefs of people (e.g Christians, Muslims) as opposed to religious structures (e.g Christianity, Islam) in order to immerse children in the idea of living faith.
- 3 key strands run through the RE curriculum: believing; expressing; and living. Children apply these strands to the major world religions, building upon their knowledge lesson by lesson and year by year in order to embed it in their long-term memory.
- Children demonstrate the breadth of their knowledge, using various mechanisms, such as writing, art, discussion and drama.
- An enquiry approach is adopted, based upon ‘big’ questions posed at the beginning of each unit of work encouraging pupils to recognise key beliefs, before moving onto higher order skills of discussing and making connections.
- To help children ‘know more and remember more’, retrieval activities are set at the beginning of each lesson.
- Enriching experiences such as visits to local places of worship, help to place pupils’ knowledge in context
The Intent of our Religious Education Curriculum
RE will support our children in exploring big questions about life, in order to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live so that they themselves can make sense of religion and worldviews and reflect on their own ideas and ways of living.
The Implementation of Religious Education
There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are and can be made between home, school and a faith community. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both pupils and staff. The syllabus is implemented in school by means of a highly sensory approach, where children may look at and handle religious artefacts, hear religious music or taste food from a religious tradition. We hope our work in RE builds on pupils’ cultural understanding of themselves and our local community.
RE is for all pupils and every pupil is legally entitled to Religious Education as part of a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum. In the UK, parents have the right to withdraw their children from RE on the grounds that they wish to provide their own RE.
Visits to places of Worship
At St Michael in the Hamlet Primary School we recognise the benefit of learning outside the classroom. We value the opportunity of bringing learning to life by visiting places of worship. Such visits give pupils first hand experiences of the faith they are studying and helps to place pupils’ knowledge in context.
Here at SMITH, we believe that Religious Education (RE) provides an opportunity to celebrate and foster awareness of differences within our school and the wider world. It is a subject that celebrates the multi- faith society that we live in. As such, various events take place throughout the year to mark dates of important religious significance.
Inter Faith Week November 2023
Our school was delighted to host various members of the community from both religious and non-religious backgrounds as part of our first SMITH Inter Faith week.
R.E. Family Learning
To celebrate the Hindu festival of Divali, SMITH held an R.E. Family learning event. Children and their families learnt about this festival, made diva lamps and had henna designs painted on their hands.
Faith visitors play a crucial part in bringing first hand knowledge and practice to our R.E. lessons.
In EYFS, Religious Education is delivered primarily through the ‘Understanding the World’ strand of the curriculum. Children grow in awe of the world in which they live, developing an appreciation and curiosity. Children are encouraged to develop positive views of themselves and others, and to learn how to form respectful relationships. Teacher-led and pupil-led activities encourage them to develop moral and cultural awareness, which they will then build upon in KS1 and KS2.