RE at St Matthew's
“It’s important to know about other people’s beliefs so that you can get on with everyone and understand what they do and think.” Y5
“You might have a friend who is celebrating or doing something different. If you know about their religion, you’ll know why they’re doing it and you can support them.” Y5
“You get to ask all sorts of questions in RE. You get a lot of knowledge too. Everyone gets involved.” Y4
“If someone said they weren’t interested in RE, I’d just think they were jealous because they haven’t had the same experience as us.” Y3
It is entirely appropriate and necessary in today’s world that children should be encouraged to foster a respect for the followers of the other world faiths. It is essential that this respect is based on an accurate and sympathetic understanding of those faiths.
Therefore RE in our school should also help pupils to:
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learn about other faiths, their beliefs, traditions and practices and from them through encounter and dialogue;
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recognise and respect those of all faiths in their search for God;
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recognise areas of common belief and practice between different faiths;
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enrich and expand their understanding of truth while remaining faithful to their own tradition;
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enrich their own faith through examples of holy living in other traditions.
The Big Frieze
Throughout the RE syllabus, we also use units from "the big frieze" is referred from the Understanding Christianity resource.
The big frieze is important in helping pupils to understand the big story (God’s salvation plan) and the big ideas in Christianity (the concepts). The big frieze has 8 panels.
Right of Withdrawal
This was first granted when RE was actually religious instruction and carried with it connotations of induction into the Christian faith. RE is very different now – open, broad and exploring a range of religious and non-religious worldviews.
However, parents have the right to withdraw their children from the RE lessons or any part of the RE curriculum and the school has a duty to supervise them, though not to provide additional teaching or to incur extra cost. Where the child has been withdrawn, the law provides for alternative arrangements to be made for RE of the kind the parents want the child to receive. These arrangements will be made by the parents; the school is not expected to make these arrangements. This could be provided at the school in question, or by another school in the locality. If neither approach is practicable, the child may receive external RE teaching as long as the withdrawal does not have a significant impact on the child’s attendance. Schools should have a policy setting out their approach to provision and withdrawal. More guidance on withdrawal can be found in Religious Education in English schools: non-statutory guidance 2010, available online at www.gov.uk/government/publications/religiouseducation-guidance-in-english-schools-non-statutoryguidance-2010
If parents wish to withdraw their child(ren) from RE lessons, they must speak to the Headteacher
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