Religious Education

Religious Education(R.E) is planned and delivered within the framework of the Agreed Syllabus for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton (Living Difference), and, the school policies for Teaching and Learning, Assessment, Special Needs and Equal Opportunities.

The aims of the R.E department are to:

• Help pupils to develop their own values and principles
• support their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• foster mutual understanding between peoples of differing religious and cultural backgrounds

Legal Requirements

The Department is consistent with the legal requirements of R.E, particularly the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 14, which states:
‘children have the right to think and feel what they want, and to practice their religion as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Parents should guide their children on these matters.’

And The Education Act 1996 which requires that:

• Religious education should be taught to all students (except those withdrawn at the wish of their parents)
• The Agreed Syllabus should reflect the fact the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teachings and practices of the other principle religions in Great Britain
• An Agreed Syllabus must not be designed to convert pupils, or to urge a particular religion or religious belief on pupils

Content

Much of the content of the school’s R.E curriculum is adapted from the QCA schemes of work (http://www.qca.org.uk/) taking into account the new Agreed Syllabus for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton. The topics presently studied at KS3 include:

• Creation
• Jesus
• Stories of the Old Testament
• Judaism
• Celebrations
• Buddhism
• Symbols
• Community
• Islam

And at KS4:

• A famous religious figure (e.g Ghandi or Martin Luther King)
• Hinduism
• Sikhism
• Festivals
• Looking after the world

Approaches to learning

The learning environment should be stimulating to encourage critical thinking. To enhance the learning environment, the R.E department makes regular loans of artefacts and other learning materials from the county R.E centre in Winchester. Pupils also find that the department has a good provision of I.C.T with an interactive whiteboard, (for presentations and video) as well as P.C’s and laptops for individual use.

It is also recognised that the pupils need a relaxing and comfortable environment so that they feel confident enough to express their views. We feel this an important aspect of the pupils’ learning experience in R.E and accordingly pupils are aware of the behaviour expectations and the rewards for clearly expressing their ideas.