St. Mark’s Church of England Primary School uses the 'Discovery' scheme of work to enhance Religious Education (RE) learning which is adapted to reflect the religious representation of our community. We are excited to be introducing the resource 'Understanding Christianity' which was commissioned by the Church of England to work alongside 'Discovery'.

Religious Education (RE) is regarded as a Core subject at St Mark's, alongside English, Maths and Science.

The Aim of the 'Understanding Christianity' resource:

• To enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith, by exploring core theological concepts
• To enable pupils to develop knowledge and skills in making sense of biblical texts and understanding their impact in the lives of Christians
• To develop pupils’ abilities to connect, critically reflect upon, evaluate and apply their learning to their own growing understanding of religion and belief (particularly Christianity), of themselves, the world and human experience.

Four of the principal religions in Britain are taught by the end of KS2. These are Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism with the greater emphasis and time allocation on Christianity.

Aims of RE at St. Mark's CE Primary School

At St. Mark’s the agreed main aims of RE are:

• To provoke challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life and beliefs about God.
• To develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, exploring core theological concepts and those of other principal religions and religious traditions.
• To encourage the pupils to develop a sense of community, identity and belonging.
• To encourage pupils to learn from different religions, beliefs, values and traditions.
• To offer opportunities for personal reflection and to nurture children’s own spiritual development.
• To develop respect for and empathy with others, especially whose faith may be different from their own.

Learning is enhanced by regular curriculum visits e.g. Bournemouth Reform Synagogue, Bournemouth Islamic Centre and St Mark’s Church. Recommended visitors are used to explore faiths and world views in more depth. For example, the Vicar and Children’s worker, speakers from religious Charities and speakers from Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities.

We do respect parents' rights to withdraw their child from RE and worship; this is always through open discussion with parents.

We have re-mapped our whole school RE curriculum for 2018-19. Please see below: