Our Vision

Through Christ who strengthens us, all will flourish at our school, with Faith, Love and Excellence.

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Love your neighbour as yourself”

Matthew 22

Our Mission Statement

• As learners we will be enquiring, self-motivated, resilient and desire excellence.
• As individuals we will have a Godly sense of right and wrong and have the opportunity to explore and develop our faith.
• As citizens we will develop love, confidence, discipline and enjoy contributing to our community and our world.

 

Religious Education

We are a distinctively Christian School, drawing our inspiration from the Christian faith. We have a clear Christian vision and values rooted in scripture and these are maintained and displayed throughout the school. They ensure that pupils and adults flourish and are passionate about creating an inclusive community, where everyone feels valued and respected. In turn, this impacts positively upon behaviour and relationships in the school.

Religious Education is a core subject in the school curriculum. As a Church of England Voluntary Aided school, we follow the Guildford Diocese Syllabus. The units are taught as a weekly sequence of lessons and the Curriculum Overview map details the themes covered from Reception until the end of Year 6.

Our curriculum provides pupils with a detailed knowledge of Christianity and other world faiths and gives pupils of all abilities the opportunity to flourish, succeed and have a sense of identify and belonging. We encourage our children to learn from religion as well as about religion by drawing upon the customs and practices of the Church of England.

Intent

Our vision for RE

As stated in the Church of England Statement of Entitlement for Religious Education, we aim for all our children to:

• know about and understand Christianity as a diverse global living faith through the exploration of core beliefs using an approach that critically engages with biblical text.
• gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews appreciating diversity, continuity and change within the religions and worldviews being studied.
• engage with challenging questions of meaning and purpose raised by human existence and experience.
• recognise the concept of religion and its continuing influence on Britain’s cultural heritage and in the lives of individuals and societies in different times, cultures and places.
• explore their own religious, spiritual and philosophical ways of living, believing and thinking.

 

Daily Collective Worship aims:

• to provide an opportunity for our children to worship God and understand Jesus;
• to enable children to consider spiritual and moral issues within a Christian framework;
• to enable children to explore their own beliefs;
• to encourage reflection, participation, response and encourage a sense of awe and wonder;
• to develop in children a sense of community spirit and tolerance;
• to promote a common ethos with shared values and to reinforce positive attitudes;
• to teach children how to worship, pray and see the value of prayer and celebrate God’s creation.

Implementation

We follow the Guildford Diocese syllabus for RE.

Our curriculum is based on the different enquiry questions provided by the diocese which aim to encourage creativity, imagination, enquiry, debate and discussion.

We link lessons to our school values and where possible make cross curricular links with other areas of the curriculum

Lessons are taught weekly in each year group, alongside daily prayers and collective worship.

Each classroom has a prayer table which allow opportunities for children to reflect and pray and an RE display linked to the unit being currently taught.

Enquiry questions continue with each class visiting the local church, St Mary’s, Thorpe. We also visit our local church to take part in a range of Christian celebrations including Harvest, Remembrance, Christmas and Easter. At the end of the year, our Year 6 children take part in a leaver’s service at the church to mark their time at our school coming to an end and reflect on their journey ahead to secondary school.

Impact

We use the key questions to assess the three golden threads; God, Community and Identity. Each class has an end of year thematic unit which builds on prior learning and enables teachers to assess in more depth.  

In Reception children’s reflections, thoughts and work are collected and recorded in a class book.

In Key Stage 1 and 2, we have independent R.E exercise books in which children record their learning, thoughts and reflections.

Teacher assessment is informed through work completed in books as well as contributions during class discussions which can often allow them to better reflect on the depth of their knowledge and understanding.

We celebrate our children’s work in class through displayed work and praise and rewards.