Mountfields Lodge
Primary School
Religious Education Policy
Aim High, Reach for the Sky
MOUNTFIELDS LODGE
SCHOOL
R.E. POLICY
Aims
“Religious Education is of intrinsic value and is part of the entitlement curriculum of
all registered pupils.
Whilst most subjects focus upon particular aspects of experience, R.E. makes its
contribution by exploring the significance of life as a whole, and so can illuminate
the whole curriculum”.
The aim of R.E. is to encourage, and assist, all pupils to explore and express their
own response to spiritual and religious approaches to life, and to understand how
religious beliefs and values affect ways of life, in school and out.
At Mountfields Lodge our aims are to help each child to explore the significance of
life as a whole, and
 develop an understanding of Christianity and of other major
religions.
 develop a respect and concern for all those around them;
 develop respect and care for their environment and all living
creatures;
 make them aware of the mystery, beauty and problems of
nature;
 gain an awareness of life’s spiritual dimension through
imagination, wonder and reflection.
We hope that from this they will develop into happy, confident and secure members
of the school, able to achieve their full potential.
Background
The Education Reform Act (ERA) became law on 29th July 1988, and reinforces
the 1944 Act.
The ERA requires that Religious Education is included, alongside the National
Curriculum, in the basic Curriculum which all maintained schools must provide for
their registered pupils.
So ERA States the following:1.
Non-denominational R.E. must be provided in accordance with the locally
agreed syllabus, but teaching about different denominations is allowed.
2.
The locally agreed syllabus must reflect the fact that religious traditions in the
country are in the main, Christian, whilst taking into account the teaching and
practices of other principal religious represented in Great Britain.
3.
Local Authorities must have a Standing Advisory Council on R.E. (SACRE)
4.
The ERA allows for a complaints procedure to be set up.
5.
All schools must publish information regarding the R.E. in the Curriculum and
the Agreed Syllabus, or a summary of it, should be readily available to parents.
6.
In Local Authority schools the Head teacher and the Governors are
responsible for ensuring that in respect of R.E. the requirements of the law are met.
7.
Parents have the right to withdraw a child from R.E.
8.
Teachers have the right to withdraw from R.E.
The school population
The children of Mountfields Lodge are mostly from Christian or nominally Christian
families. Some come from Christian groups like The Brethren and The Witnesses.
Some children come from families who follow the Muslim, Hindu or Sikh faiths. A
small number are withdrawn from R.E. for religious reasons.
.
Curriculum Organisation in School
The R.E. Curriculum will be taught either:
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as a separate topic
part of another topic
in assemblies and follow up work.
The method used will be identified in medium term plans
The scheme of work for Foundation, Key Stage 1 and 2 was adopted
in 1998/9 and revised in 2000. A list of resources accompanies this.
During the year as a whole Key Stage 1 pupils should spend 36 hours on R.E.; Key
Stage 2, 45 hours.
Any children who are withdrawn from R.E. are supervised by a member of staff.
Children are required to occupy themselves with another activity e.g. a library book, a
reading book, or a book related to their own particular faith.
Agreed Syllabus
Our school’s agreed syllabus is based on the Leics., Agreed Syllabus for R.E. It can
be found in detail in the Scheme of Work, but put briefly: Each year group will study
Christianity and one other main religion,
Key Stage 1
covers Christianity & (Judasim )
Key Stage 2 3/4
“
“
& (Hinduism)
Key Stage 2 5/6
“
“
& (Islam/Buddhism)
Assessment, Recording and Reporting
Assessment is made by observing children’s responses and attitudes towards each
other and to the environment, and from oral contributions to group or class
discussions, and with reference to written work.
This assessment informs parent/teacher interviews and end of year report to parents.
When assessment is made in R.E, “it is essential that the personal beliefs of the
pupil, and the teacher, and the integrity of the subject itself should be respected.
The attitudes and background of the pupils must be treated with sensitivity and their
right to privacy in matters of personal beliefs and feelings must be safeguarded”.
(LAS)
The R.E. Co-ordinator is Ms Dani Redgate
Equal Opportunities and Multi-Cultural Education
As we educate the children into the belief and practices of different religions we hope
that they will feel proud of their own culture and heritage, but equally, develop a
respect and tolerance towards those who come from a different race, those with
different religious beliefs, and those with different cultural values and practices.
Links with the community
Links are made both by visitors coming into school and by children going out on
visits. Children from Reception to Year 6 take part in visits.
Occasionally the school welcomes visitors to assembly or class groups e.g. charity
workers, clergy or people from other faiths. Sometimes the children take part in
sponsored events, or make collections, or donate items, the proceeds from which are
then shared within the local community or further a field.
Spirituality
‘The extent to which the school provides children with knowledge and insight into
values and beliefs and enables thmk to reflect on their experiences in a way which
develops their spiritual awareness and self-knowledge’
Our school aims are based upon the notion of children and adults flourishing. This
aim provides a good measure when assessing to what extent an activity contributes
to the sense of children and adults flourishing. It will allow us,
To make the idea of spirituality less mystical,
To articulate the idea of spirituality and find words to discuss the ideas, and
To identify what spirituality means to us.
Gent suggested a number of qualities, which might help to describe a person who
has achieved a sense of the spiritual. He proposes,
 Tenacity and resilience: the ability to stick at things and to persevere.
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Co-operation: the ability to join with others and recognise a social dimension
to our activities.
Care for the environment in its widest sense: an ability to both relate to the
world about us and to take a responsible approach to the impact which we
may have upon it.
Compassion for others: an ability that is demonstrated well in schools both at
the immediate level and in international terms.
Pleasure in others achievements: an ability to recognise the value of others
and the contributions that they have made.
Each of these qualities can be given concrete examples in everyday school terms.
They can be observed daily in our classrooms and it is this process of identification
which will allow the understanding of the spiritual aspects of education to develop.
Some relevant activities will be planned, like those relating to charities. Some will be
spontaneous, the considerate act of a child, for example. These activities are
celebrated in school in many ways, a classroom display listing appropriate
achievements by the class is a most effective way, as are achievement awards.
Activities included will promote the development of,
Reflection,
Imagination,
Wonder,
Questioning,
The ability to extended and express experience
and to challenge oneself.
This view of spirituality is at the heart of the way we should teach children. It
happens in our school everyday. We must make it explicit and plan for it.