RE
RE is lead by Mrs Holmes. Please see the RE overview for all classes and year groups, this also shares the educational visits and experiences we offer the children.
We follow the NYCC scheme, but we use a range of resources from our diocese. Please click here for the RE syllabus. Please click here to see the RE vocabulary.
We use Understanding Christianity to enhance the RE curriculum further. Please click here for more information.
RE: statutory requirements and curriculum information
The national curriculum states the legal requirement that:
'Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which:
- promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils; and
- prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
Kirk Smeaton Church of England Primary School is a voluntary controlled school. Religious Education is therefore an important part of the school life as it gives us the opportunity to come together as a community. At Kirk Smeaton Church of England Primary School we recognise that Religious Education is important to provide opportunities for our pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development and understanding. It also gives some time for thinking, listening, sharing, stillness and silence.
Legal Status of Religious Education
Our school curriculum for religious education meets the requirements of the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA). The ERA stipulates that religious education is compulsory for all children, including those in the reception class who are less than five years old. The ERA allows parents to withdraw their child from religious education classes if they so wish, although this should only be done once the parents have given written notice to the school governors. The ERA also allows teachers to refuse to teach religious education, but only after they have given due notice of their intention to the school governors. The religious education curriculum forms an important part of our school’s spiritual, moral and social teaching. It also promotes education for citizenship. Our school RE curriculum is based on North Yorkshire’s Agreed Syllabus (supplemented by the Wakefield Diocese) and it meets all requirements. The ERA states that the RE syllabus should reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, and that it should, at the same time, take account of the teachings and practices of other major religions.
If you wish for your child to not take part in RE, please speak to Mrs Cuddy and Mrs Holmes.
At Kirk Smeaton C of E Primary School we are committed to providing Religious Education to all Children, from the Foundation Stage to Year Six. Following training and advice, we currently base our Religious Education teaching on the North Yorkshire Agreed Syllabus (2019-2024), which is written with a strong emphasis on an enquiry approach.
Characteristics of Effective Learners in Religious Education
• The ability to consider challenging questions about possible meanings of life, beliefs in right and wrong and what it means to be human.
• An understanding of the connections between different faiths and human experiences.
• The ability to share positive attitudes of respect towards people who hold different beliefs and follow other religions to their own.
• The ability to make reasoned and informed judgments about religious and moral issues with reference to religions represented in the UK
Through Religious Education we aim to:
• Show children that Christianity is about following the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and is relevant to their daily lives.
• Ensure the ethos of our School and RE Syllabus encourages our children to develop their own beliefs, values and attitudes using their own experiences;
• Celebrate the uniqueness of each child and seek to encourage individual creative responses through our age-related Schemes of Work;
• Seek to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils;
• Promote understanding and awareness of Christianity and knowledge of the traditions and practice of Christianity and other world faiths;
• Encourage caring, thoughtful and respectful relationships;
• Provide a supportive environment where children can develop self-confidence, self-discipline and a sense of responsibility.
Religious Education will encourage and enable pupils to explore their own beliefs, values and traditions and those of others in meaningful and engaging ways. It will encourage pupils to share their diverse range of experiences and grow individually and together with sensitivity and respect towards people of all faiths and none.
