A rounded understanding of major faiths and the confidence to explore their own personal beliefs provides our children with the skills and knowledge they need to become principled and respectful as adults. It also provides a huge range of opportunities to develop our learning powers, particularly curiosity, empathy and reflectiveness. To find out more about what we teach and how learnng fits together, take a look at our skills and knowledge progression:  

• Skills and Knowledge Progression : Religious Education
   

The aim of our RE curriculum

We want our children to develop their individual knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs in order to become open, principled and respectful citizens in contemporary society. In order to do this, it is vital that our children build-up both a rounded understanding of major faiths and the confidence and curiosity needed to form their own personal opinions. To that end, we have built on the Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus for RE to provide an education that reflects the beliefs and needs of our diverse community. 

At Bedwell, children in every class are given opportunities to ask and answer provoking, challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong, and what it means to be human. We want to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, of other principal religions, other religious traditions and worldviews that offer answers to questions such as these. 

Our children also have opportunities for their own personal development and wellbeing, by being taught to have mutual respect and tolerance for the diverse society we live in. This is also reflected in other parts of the curriculum such as Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), geography and history. Children are given opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development which allow them to deepen their understanding of the significance of religion in the lives of others – individually, communally and cross-culturally.

The rights of parents to withdraw their children from the teaching of RE is incorporated in the Education Reform Act (1988). Any parent or carer who wishes to discuss this should consult the headteacher.

Experiences we want every child to have at Bedwell:

• Visit a broad range of places of worship, both in the local area and beyond, including churches, temples, synagogues and mosques - our target is for children to visit one place of worship each year, linked to the religions they are exploring 
• Meet religious leaders in local community and have the opportunity to discuss their faith and practices 
• Have opportunities to handle religious artefacts, learn about their significance and draw their own inferences and conclusions from them. 
• Share photos, stories, food and clothing from faith ceremonies that they have taken part in with others in their class 
• Have regular opportunities to discuss their personal faith and beliefs in an open, trusting and respectful environment.

This term's learning

Year 5  - We visited one of our local churches to learn about the Easter story. It was a lovely afternoon, with lots of volunteers from the local community making us feel really welcome in their church. 

Early Years - Nursery and Reception  have learnt about lots of different festivals over the last few months, including Chinese New Year, Easter, Eid and Holi. We talked about the different days and events that we each celebrate in our families, and have learnt about the meaning of these festivals.

Year 2 - The whole of Year 2 visited St Hugh and St John’s Church in December to support our learning in RE. We met volunteers who retold the story of different characters from the Nativity and explained why Christmas is an important time for Christians around the world.