RE at St James follows the Agreed Syllabus for Gloucestershire. It has been written and devised as a Spiral Curriculum, whereby, within a child’s primary education they will have opportunities to revisit learning and deepen learning as they progress through the Key Stages.
As your children learns about different religions, they will do so alongside World Views, and within a context of respect for different beliefs that individuals may hold. They will spend time focusing on the Religions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. They will also be asked to consider non-religious beliefs such as Humanism.
Our RE curriculum embraces the community we live in; recognising local places of worship is at the heart of this. We aim to actively value links between the school family, faith families and home families. Therefore, each year group will welcome visitors in or will go out on visits to extend their learning and understanding of the above religions and beliefs. Year 5 shared their Mosque visit with us in the December newsletter, and moving forward Years 2, 3, 4 and 6 will be welcoming in an expert on ‘Godly Play’ – looking at unlocking some key messages from the Christian faith.
A big part of studying RE at St James calls for the children to ask Big questions that will challenge their thinking and understanding of different concepts, and what they think and believe about them. We often link these questions to peoples’ sense of belief, exploring connections between and within religions and non-religions, and giving time to evaluating the impact of what a person believes in, in terms of how they live their life and the decisions they will make. Our Floor books capture much of our thinking –both individually and as a class