Religious Education
Our school ethos and vision are shared by our school community regardless of faith or beliefs, with the children speaking confidently of the need to “Love your neighbour as yourself”. This is also reflected in our teaching of RE across the school, which also highlights our school values.
'When we forgive others, we teach our children to forgive themselves'. Forgiveness is a spiritual principle that is taught in all of the great world religions that are part of our RE curriculum here at St James.
Our RE curriculum also strengthens our school value of Respect, as children learn and celebrate the differences in religion. "We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” Kofi Annan
Our RE curriculum also strengthens our school value of Respect, as children learn and celebrate the differences in religion. "We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” Kofi Annan
How is RE taught at our school?
From September 2023, our school will be following the new Manchester Diocese Religious Education Syllabus for 2023-28. The syllabus reinforces the importance of RE as an academic discipline. It will enable understanding of concepts and the development of skills and attitudes so that our pupils can explore wider issues of religion and belief in religiously literate ways. The syllabus offers an inclusive education to all our young people, whatever their personal worldviews might be. This syllabus prepares the children and young people of our area for active citizenship in a diverse and rapidly changing world, exploring some aspects of British values in relation to religions and world views.
This new syllabus has been developed on behalf of the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education (MDBE) by RE Today for all Voluntary Aided Church of England schools across the diocese. It recognises our local communities and region as vibrant and unique, with much diversity of religion and belief. The population includes very large communities of tens of thousands of Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jewish people and Sikhs and smaller groups of other significant faith communities including Jains, Buddhists and members of the Baha’i faith. Many children come from families that hold nonreligious worldviews. RE taught using this syllabus allows all learners to share their experiences and to learn from one another and the religions and beliefs in our community. This rich diversity influences the religions and beliefs to be taught in religious education.
This syllabus also makes space for all pupils to explore their own positions with regard to religion and worldviews, and those of others in engaged and engaging ways. RE taught using the new RE Agreed Syllabus aims to support children to develop positive attitudes of respect towards people from all religions and worldviews. This syllabus continues in the tradition of ensuring that RE is responsive to the changing nature of schools and education. The syllabus enables schools to respond effectively to the Ofsted Framework for Inspection which requires schools to ‘...ensure high standards of achievement, learning and behaviour for their pupils, as well as contributing to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development’. The review of the syllabus has paid attention to sequencing the curriculum to enable pupils to know more and remember more, and to deploy a rich knowledge of religions effectively. It is a curriculum of ambition for RE.
