RE
“Religious education (RE) should make a major contribution to the education of children and young people. At its best, it is intellectually challenging and personally enriching. It helps young people develop beliefs and values, and promotes the virtues of respect and empathy, which are important in our diverse society. It fosters civilised debate and reasoned argument, and helps pupils to understand the place of religion and belief in the modern world.”
Ofsted
Principles of Great RE Teaching
At Ticehurst and Flimwell we develop the children's knowledge through a 'spiral curriculum'. This means that children's knowledge of world religions are revisited and deepened each year as they progress through the school. The teaching of RE is based on the East Sussex Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. We use Understanding Christianity and RE today to support our planning and teaching of RE.
Understanding Christianity is based on the use of core concepts of Christian belief, as expressed in the Bible and lived out in the lives of Christians today. The core concepts reflect a view that the Bible tells a ‘big story’ of salvation. The approach in RE is to revisit the core concepts throughout the different key stages, deepening pupils’ understanding and making the links to the overall ‘big story’ or ‘salvation narrative’. This is not the only way to describe Christian thought and practice, and of course there is real diversity within Christianity itself, but it sets a good foundation for understanding the heart of the Christian faith. RE today complements Understanding Christianity and both were recognised at the Christian Funders Forum Showcase of 2024 as being the key resources to make a difference in RE education in schools.
Parents and carers have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE. Please contact Mrs Foy, the RE leader, should you have any concerns.