“Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education believes that high quality Religious Education (RE) is the key to enabling every child to flourish. We are committed to producing quality resources that will provide teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to ensure that the children experience the best RE curriculum. By embracing the explicit teaching of Christian concepts and God’s big salvation story, it is hoped that the content of this syllabus will give pupils a deeper understanding of Christianity. In addition, pupils explore all major world faiths and discuss world views where appropriate.“
(Blackburn Board of Education’ – Questful RE)
Intent Statement
At St. Gabriel’s our ethos is embedded within the Biblical teaching of:
“Stand firm… be courageous” 1 Corinthians 16:13
This key statement, alongside our core values of:
are the golden threads of our worship and RE teaching, to allow children to flourish academically and spiritually. Our Vision also encourages an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith. We want all children to develop self–belief, foster confidence and a desire to improve to be the best that they can be.
As a Church of England Primary School, we aim to give all children excellent RE teaching through creative, enquiring, spiritual and challenging lessons where they are encouraged to listen, talk, share, respect and question. RE is taught every week and we follow the structure of the Blackburn Diocesan scheme – Understanding Christianity / Questful RE. As part of this scheme, teaching is placed within the context of ‘God’s Big Story’ where the children are given opportunities to explore big questions about God, Creation, The Fall, People of God, Incarnation, The Gospel, Salvation and The Kingdom of God. We support pupils to understand these core concepts and how they can be applied to their everyday lives to help them encounter life’s experiences. We aim to teach respect and an understanding of diversity both within Christianity and other faiths.
Although Christianity is a focus, our RE Curriculum is broad and balanced and ensures our children are taught about Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddism.
Children in the Early Years also follow units of work from the Diocesan Questful RE scheme. Links to the Past & Present and People, Cultures & Communities section of the Understanding the World Curriculum are also made.
Intended Impact
During the children’s learning journey at St Gabriel’s, our intended impact of the RE Curriculum is to ensure that children experience, explore and encounter a wide range of creative and challenging multi–sensory activities that will help them to discover the answers to fundamental questions such as these:
- Who am I and what does it mean to be me?
- In what ways do/can I relate to others?
- How/where can I encounter God?
- How can I make a positive contribution to the world in which I live?
- What values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour are important to me?
- What does it mean to have faith?
- Who/what influences and inspires me?
Whilst parents are permitted to request that children are withdrawn from RE, we feel that this does not support unity within a class or across school. Our RE curriculum aims to bring children together to ask questions and share an understanding of faith across religions. It aims to nurture and teach unity, not division. We aim to promote ‘Harmony’, as one of our key school values, through the teaching of respect and tolerance.
