Our teaching of Religious Education follows the guidance given in the latest Agreed Syllabus for Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire:-
Religious Education for All – The Agreed Syllabus for RE in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire – 2021-2026
Using this Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, we will enable our pupils to discover more about religion as well as other worldviews as we assist them to apply their learning to a range of topics. Our pupils are encouraged to express ideas and insights into key questions which face all human beings as we travel through life. They will take part in lessons, and could also receive visitors to school sharing a range of religious viewpoints and undertake their own visits to varied places of worship, Covid permitting.
Through these experiences, they will gain insights and knowledge to help equip them as responsible citizens, ready to contribute positively to our society and the wider world.
The three-fold aims of RE in Nottingham City and the County will ensure that our pupils:
By following the Agreed Syllabus, RE will also contribute to a whole range of school priorities. Study of religious and worldviews will also promote spiritual, cultural, social and moral development, and will support pupils’ understanding of British Values such as acceptance and respect for others who hold different worldviews.
Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall visions and values of the school. These include: creating and developing a strong community, both locally and globally, in which everyone feels valued, safe and able to achieve their full potential; presenting and exploring possibilities to inspire growth and aspiration; ensuring children show P.R.I.D.E in all they do and grow to become risk takers, mistake makers, independence seekers and committed lifelong learners. At St Augustine’s, Religious Education plays an important role, alongside PSHRE, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children.
If you would like to know more about the Agreed Syllabus a copy can be made available for you to read in school.
At The St Augustine’s Academy, it has been agreed that having taken into account the requirements and guidelines in the Agreed Syllabus, the following religions will be studied:
There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils.
At The St Augustine’s Academy we follow a combined scheme of work encompassing both RE and PSHRE. Within key stage one and key stage two each of the RE units taken from the Agreed Syllabus have been placed under one of our five school P.R.I.D.E values (Positivity, Respect, Independence, Determination and Excellence). The RE units can be taught in any order throughout the year giving teachers in each year group more flexibility within the subject. Within our mixed age classes in key stage two, the teachers follow a two-year rolling programme to ensure coverage of all units and statutory elements over a two-year period. RE is taught in key stages one and two on a weekly basis for one hour. The children present their written work in a scrapbook giving the children more choice in how they present their work
In the foundation stage classes RE is taught through the area of learning: understanding the world. It allows the children to fully experience different religions through story, role-play and various play based activities. It also allows the children to appreciate and explore their own religions, traditions and customs. RE isn’t formally recorded in the foundation stage but staff make observations that they record on Tapestry which is an online journal used to record all the learning and fun of children’s early years education.
The children at The St Augustine’s Academy enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose, or choose not to follow a religion. Through their RE learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. Through RE our children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community.
RE offers our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way. As such, RE is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.
