R.E.
At Muntham House School, we believe that the Religious Education (R.E) curriculum's main goal is to help pupils create their own coherent systems of morals and values, while also fostering their social, moral, spiritual, and cultural growth. Furthermore, by encouraging respect and tolerance among people in our increasingly varied society, R.E can favourably impact pupils’ personal growth and wellbeing as well as societal cohesiveness. The school follows a framework of the National Curriculum for R.E with the following aims:
- Describe and explain beliefs and practices, recognising the diversity
- Identify and discuss to sources of wisdom found in religion and worldviews.
- Investigate the nature and diversity of religious practices, ways of life and meaning
- Interpret key concepts and ideas and apply them to questions of belonging, meaning and truth, expressing their own ideas and opinions.
- Draw conclusions about what enables different communities to live together respectfully for the well-being of all.
- Articulate clearly learning about beliefs, values and commitments and explain why they may be important in pupils’ own and other people’s lives.
The teaching of R.E confronts prejudices, biases, and preconceptions concerning gender, race, identity, and religion. In order to foster a healthy attitude toward diversity, lessons at Muntham House aim to sensitively and accurately present faiths and world views in all their richness and diversity in terms of beliefs, traditions, rituals, and lifestyle. All queries, viewpoints, and opinions are handled delicately and respectfully. RE helps to promote pupils Personal Development.
Intent
The aim of this curriculum is to guarantee that by the time all pupils leave their primary education, they have a fundamental grasp of the major religions practised. This does not prevent lesson plans from going into deeper detail on the mentioned religions or, if necessary, from including material from other faiths or ideologies. However, this shouldn't have the unintended consequence of confusing the pupils by briefly discussing too many different religions or ideologies. The plan to teach other religions besides Christianity during the Primary phase aims to provide the most flexibility while guaranteeing a comprehensive coverage. Religions other than Christianity should be planned over two main key stages in order to give a consistent framework of work.
Pupils should be able to study, express their thoughts and opinions, and engage in discussion and debate in a safe environment during RE lessons. Pupils who receive excellent RE instruction will be able to develop independent thought developing their cultural capital. In RE, pupils acquire the knowledge and attitudes that help them overcome intolerance and cultivate respect, which enables them to embrace variety.
At Muntham House School, using the West Sussex county council agreed syllabus, we aim to enhance pupils’ awareness of various religious and nonreligious worldviews to a deeper level so that they can:
- Describe and clarify religious doctrines and beliefs.
- List and describe some authorities and teachings from both religious and nonreligious traditions.
- Describe and clarify how views are communicated
- Understand the importance of, and the effects of, beliefs and practises on people, communities, and societies
- Join these to form a comprehensive system of principles and practises.
Implementation
Each class teacher teaches a weekly lesson on R.E. Work is documented in the pupils Creative Curriculum books, and it is demonstrated utilising a range of results as recommended by the agreed-upon syllabus. Religious Education taught at Muntham House School:
- Provides pupils with opportunities for introspection and their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural growth as it helps them to consider the importance of their learning in relation to others and themselves.
- Gives pupils the opportunity to examine their own beliefs (religious or not), thoughts, feelings, experiences, and values in the context of what they have learned.
- Promotes respect and empathy.
- Encourages pupils to grow a sense of individuality and belonging.
- Encourages respect for others' freedom to possess opinions, values, and views that differ from your own.
- Develops a talent for conversation so that they can contribute meaningfully to our society's diversity of religious and nonreligious viewpoints.
- Permits pupils to have a deep and knowledgeable awareness of the political, social, and moral concerns they will need to deal with as they mature in a world that is becoming more and more globalised.
- Helps pupils manage strongly held differences of opinion, challenge stereotypes and prejudice, and deal constructively with contentious problems.
Therefore, at Muntham House School, Religious Education is essential to fostering strong local, national and international citizenship. It significantly contributes to actively promoting respect for one another's faiths and beliefs, which is a core element of cultural capital. It gets pupils ready for life in contemporary Britain.
Impact
Pupils learn about the main traits of the worldviews and faiths they have covered in KS1, as well as their importance and influence in Britain. They should be able to apply their learning, ask questions, and share their own thoughts while utilising precise vocabulary to communicate their comprehension. Teachers may choose to centre a unit of study on a single theme or may opt to arrange a unit of work that explores numerous themes.
Pupils learn about the main traits of the worldviews and faiths they have studied in KS2, as well as their importance and effects on Britain and the rest of the globe. Pupils should be able to apply their information, ask questions, share their own opinions, and make connections between the religions and worldviews they have studied and other subjects they have studied using subject-specific terminology (Tier 3 vocabulary). They should be able to critically evaluate the relevance of what they have learned and connect it to their own experiences and perspectives. As a "religious education expert," they should acquire the information, abilities, and critical thinking skills necessary to approach and analyse this substantive knowledge in order to engage in educated, balanced debates about religion and belief.