Religious Education
We believe that RE should be taught through an enquiry based model which increases children’s critical thinking skills, their motivation to learn and improves their knowledge and understanding of other beliefs and religions. This approach ensures that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief.
Our school follows the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus. Through the use of this, SMSC is greatly encouraged and provides opportunities in each enquiry question. It allows children to reflect on their spiritual, moral, social and cultural views.It exposes children to other cultures and beliefs and provides them with an opportunity to recognise the difference between right and wrong.It also provides an understanding and appreciation of the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own community.Thus, enabling children to explore and understand cultural diversity.
In Birmingham there are significant numbers of people from nine faith groups:
Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, the Sikh faith, Jainism, Judaism, and Rastafarianism. In addition, the 2022 syllabus gives equal respect to the teaching of non-religious worldviews. The main example used in the planning materials is Humanism; allowing for concrete examples to be taught.
There are four ‘Dimensions of Learning’: Learning from Experience, Learning about Religious Traditions and Non-Religious Worldviews, Learning from faith and non-religious worldviews and Learning to Discern throughout all four key stages.
There has been agreement between the traditions in the city (religious and non-religious) that the 24 dispositions, are qualities or marks of spiritual character they would wish to see developed in pupils.
The dispositions are based on a spiral curriculum approach, which are encountered by pupils in each phase of their education. Teaching should be focussed on each disposition:
once in KS1;
once every two years in KS2;
once in KS3; and
once in KS4.
The 24 dispositions are:
Being imaginative and exploratory
Appreciating beauty
Expressing joy
Being thankful
Caring for others, animals and the environment
Sharing and being generous
Responding to suffering
Being merciful and forgiving
Being fair and just
Living by rules
Being accountable and living with integrity
Being temperate, self-disciplined and seeking contentment
Being modest and listening to others
Creating inclusion, identity and belonging
Creating unity and harmony
Participating and willing to lead
Remembering roots
Being loyal and steadfast
Being hopeful and visionary
Being courageous and confident
Being curious and valuing knowledge
Being open, honest and truthful
Being reflective and self-critical
Being attentive to the sacred, as well as the precious