Religious Education Subject intent
Overthorpe C of E Academy is a Church of England school and our Religious Education curriculum is in conformity with the rites, practices and beliefs of The Church of England as laid down in the Trust’s Deed and the “Religious Education in Church Schools: A Statement of Entitlement” (2019) and as recommended within the Diocesan Syllabus for RE from the Dioceses of Leeds and York.
RE plays a major part in promoting the Christian aims, values and ethos of our school as expressed in our school vision. The Statement of Entitlement (2019) states that: “Religious education in a Church school should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10). It will help educate for dignity and respect encouraging all to live well together. Such an approach is offered through a commitment to generous hospitality, being true to our underpinning faith, but with a deep respect for the integrity of other religious traditions (and world views) and for the religious freedom of each person. Our school curriculum offers high-quality sequential religious education (RE). We teach a full curriculum that prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in modern Britain. Central to religious education in Church schools is the study of Christianity as a living and diverse faith, focused on the teaching of Jesus and the Church. There is a clear expectation that as inclusive communities, church schools provide sequenced learning about a range of religions and world views, fostering respect for others.”
Our Aims
The principal aim of RE is to enable pupils hold balanced and informed conversations about religion and belief. This incorporates the following:
- To enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living faith that influences the lives of people worldwide and as the religion that has most shaped British culture and heritage. At least 50% of our RE curriculum is based on Christianity.
- To enable pupils to know and understand about other major world religions and non-religious world views, their impact on society, culture and the wider world, enabling pupils to express ideas and insights.
- To contribute to the development of pupils’ own spiritual and philosophical convictions, exploring and enriching their own beliefs and values.
Appropriate to their age at the end of their education in Church schools, the expectation is that all pupils are religiously literate and, as a minimum, pupils are able to:
- Give a theologically informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith.
- Show an informed and respectful attitude to religions and non-religious worldviews in their search for God and meaning.
- Engage in meaningful and informed dialogue with those of other faiths and none.
- Reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.
RE is for all pupils
- Every pupil has an entitlement to Religious Education
- RE is a necessary part of a broad and balanced curriculum and is provided for all
- This requirement does not apply for children below compulsory school age, although our Nursery class demonstrates good practice of RE.
- At Overthorpe C of E Academy, RE has the status of a core subject.
RE is locally determined
At Overthorpe C of E Academy, the Local Academy Board are ultimately responsible for the subject and they must ensure that RE syllabus and provision is in accordance with “the rites, practices and beliefs of the Church of England”.
Time allocation
- A minimum time allocation of curriculum time for RE is allotted for each year group at Overthorpe C of E Academy, based on the Statement of Entitlement from the Church of England Education Office (2019), which states that schools should aim to allocate close to 10% of curriculum for teaching RE, but must be no less than 5%. In practice, this means a starting point of 50 minutes per week for Reception class, 60 minutes per week for Key Stage 1 and 75 minutes per week for Key Stage 2.
- RE can be delivered in flexible ways and need not be confined to one lesson per week. Further opportunities are sought to develop RE in the Curriculum, for example through RE days, RE weeks, visits and other projects.
- RE is different from Collective Worship and time in Collective Worship is not counted as RE teaching time.
Syllabus
Overthorpe C of E follows the Diocese of Leeds Syllabus for Religious Education and supplements this with resources from the Understanding Christianity units of work.