Christ Church Church of England Primary School RE

Religious Education (‘RE’) at Christ Church CE VA Primary School

Our School Motto

‘Together, with God’s love, we can achieve anything’

Scripture

Luke 1:37: ‘For with God, nothing is impossible’

Our School Vision

‘To be a family where we love one another as Jesus loves us, learning and sharing together, growing in character and giving of our best to achieve greatness – ‘For with God, nothing is impossible’ (Luke1:37). To nurture compassionate, thoughtful and knowledgeable citizens of their community, country and the modern world’.

Our School Mission

As a church school, at the heart of the community, Christ Church CE Primary School is committed to enabling all pupils to know, understand and use their God given gifts and talents within an open, safe and caring Christian environment. We teach children that they are children of God, that God loves them and that every individual is deeply valued and cherished.

Our C.H.R.I.S.T. values:

Compassion – we are kind.

Hope – we dare to dream.

Respect – we are polite and fair to others.

Integrity – we are truthful to ourselves and others.

Service – here, we put each other first.

Thankfulness – we appreciate all we have.

Our School Vision - INTENT

‘To be a family where we love one another as Jesus loves us, learning and sharing together, growing in character and giving of our best to achieve greatness – ‘For with God, nothing is impossible’ (Luke1:37). To nurture compassionate, thoughtful and knowledgeable citizens of their community, country and the modern world’.

We teach children that they are children of God and that God loves them.

We have adopted the following School Values:

Bible Verses 

Compassion 2 Chronicles 30:9 For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him. 

Hope Hebrews 10:23 -Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

Respect -1 Peter 2:17 Honour everyone. Love the family of believers.

Integrity Psalm 25:5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.

Service Mark 10:45 “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Thankfulness - Philippians 4:6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

RE significantly contributes to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the children.  These aspects of development can be found in many of the curriculum areas and are implicit in the ethos of the school. We expect that R.E. will be of the highest standard at Christ Church, striving for excellence and reflecting the school’s distinctive Anglican Christian character.

It is taught in accordance with the Trust Deed of the school and according to the doctrines, policy and practices of the Church of England.

In line with the Church of England's role as the established Church, our vision is for the common good of the whole community which our School serves. We are guided by the seven principles outlined by the Church of England in the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools Evaluation Schedule:

• Vision and Leadership
• Wisdom, Knowledge and Skills
• Character Development: Hope, Aspiration and Courageous Advocacy
• Community and Living Well Together
• Dignity and Respect
• The impact of collective worship
• The effectiveness of religious education

Details can be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2018-04/SIAMS%20Evaluation%20Schedule%202018_0.pdf

We follow the Church of England’s ‘Vision for Education’ 2016, ‘RE Statement of Entitlement’ 2019 and ‘Valuing All of God’s Children’ 2017 guidance in all aspects of our approaches to Religious Education.

‘British’ Values

Our Christian values ensure that British Values are implicit and embedded in all that we do. This is part of our long term plan to prepare our children for living in modern Britain where we value every individual, whether child or adult. We actively promote equality and diversity. It also means that we will promote through discussion, respect for democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect for those of different faiths.

Detail

We follow the Blackburn Diocesan scheme of work for Religious Education, as stipulated by Liverpool Diocese; we last reviewed our units of study in 2022. This encompasses the scheme of work entitled ‘Questful RE’ and the ‘Understanding Christianity’ Scheme of work.

This is compatible with our School’s Anglican Foundation. Christianity plays a key role in the curriculum. We also teach about other world faiths focussing on Judaism, Hinduism and Islam. Respect for other faiths must be accurate and sympathetic, consistent with the values and principles of our School’s Christian foundation. We ensure that the children in our care understand that they have the freedom to choose which faith to follow.

Each Key Stage has assigned a detailed programme of study on a two year cycle. Knowledge is taught as the foundation for all further learning in a Unit.

Consistent with our policies on Teaching and Learning, the policy for R.E. aims to ensure inclusion, stressing the entitlement of all children to the full curriculum. Pupils who are withdrawn from these activities by their parents on religious or moral grounds are treated with respect and consideration.

We also celebrate the events in the life of our school as opportunities for RE teaching, some of which are additional to the adopted syllabus. These include:

• Christmas Productions
• Leavers’ Services
• Visitors to School
• Harvest Festival services
• Easter Services
• Staff leaving / new staff Induction
• Cathedral visits
• Fairtrade week

Assessment is formative and summatively recorded at the end of each unit. Attainment descriptors are outlined in each unit of study. Standards are moderated by the subject leader.

Assessing and reviewing is a continuous process which influences the teacher’s planning for the whole class and individual children.

Sources of self-evaluation:

• Head Teacher termly reports to the Governing Body especially sections 8 and 9
• Children  - what they say, how they interact with adults and each other
• Books
• Reflection journals
• Collective Worship – logs
• Christ Church: Reverend Neil (Governor link) /  parishioners (‘Open the Book’)
• Bullying Log
• Subject leader Action Plans, termly Governor Reports RE / staff meetings led / records of examples / lesson observations
• SEF
• SDiP formulation gathering – governors, staff
• Parent / pupil Questionnaires
• Faith factory
• CEPQH  / staff CPD
• Charity fundraising
• Vision prep – school Council / Governors’ mins
• Confirmees (12 in 2018, 12 in 2019)
• Prayer boxes uptake / ‘prayer room’ lunchtime activity

Church / School links

We seek to build a strong relationship with our local Church and clergy and utilise the talents of the latter and the facilities of the former in support of our RE teaching. Rev. Neil Shaw and Rev. Heather Haddow regularly leads Collective Worship, confirmation classes and visits classes to participate in lessons.

Impact

Please read our SIAMS inspection Report  - latest version is the interim evaluation 2019.Religious Education (‘RE’) at Christ Church CE VA Primary School.