RE aims to give children the knowledge, critical thinking skills, open minded and

respectful attitude with which to investigate the world of religion and beliefs, and make their own decisions about what this means to them, whilst empathising with what it means to those who hold those beliefs. It also aims to enable children to grow spiritually by developing their awareness and skills of reflection, their experience of awe and wonder and their appreciation of stillness and silence.

Our curriculum

We believe that it is important for our children to learn about all religions. We believe

that learning about the religions and beliefs of others will help our children to become better citizens. R.E enables children to develop mutual respect and tolerance for the

beliefs of others.

At Broughton Community Schools we use Jigsaw RE, a comprehensive enquiry-based teaching programme, for Religious Education. Christianity is as a common theme with Christmas and Easter revisited in a progressive way where children build on their prior knowledge. This is taught alongside other principle religions and belief systems in every year group and enables all 6 principle religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism) to be considered by the end of Key Stage 2.

This enquiry-based approach motivates in-depth exploration of RE content and subject knowledge in order to answer ‘the big question’. This is achieved through four steps: engagement, investigation, evaluation and expression. This approach also promotes the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions regarding religion and belief. This model encourages the development of our children’s critical thinking skills, and their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise.

How can you support your children at home?

• Plan and make a special meal
• Create celebration cards to send
• Create a countdown calendar
• Gather artefacts from special events or celebrations
• Visit places of worship

We would also love for you to share your first hand experiences with us.