Religious Education
At Norton CP School, each child develops their individual understanding of Christianity and other religions.
We believe that it is important that the children develop respect and an understanding that people can have different faiths and beliefs than themselves.
Due to the large size of our school, there are children with many different backgrounds so this collective understanding is imperative to aid the children’s appreciation of individual identities.
They also develop an understanding of how having a faith can impact on a person’s life and have time to reflect on their own lives and what is important to them.
We follow the North Yorkshire Syllabus for R.E. and the three main areas that are explored throughout the R.E. lessons are: Believing, Expressing and Living. There are links with other subjects such as morals and rules in P.S.H.E. so that the children grow up to be independent, thoughtful and valued members of society. Work is displayed in ‘big books’, which allows the children’s work to be gathered and presented in different ways. Children attend ‘Open the Book’ assemblies led by the local vicar and volunteers, and they attend Christmas and Easter services at the church.
In EYFS, the children are introduced to the idea of religions as they learn about the celebrations of Christmas, Easter and Diwali. Children in EYFS also learn about the importance of community and why they should respect their environment and people around them. They also see themselves as being an important individual and think about how they can form positive relationships with others. The children begin to appreciate that people are all unique and can have different beliefs and can celebrate special times in various ways.
In Key Stage 1, children develop an understanding of different faith communities, including learning about key stories, places and special events such as Christmas and Easter. They begin to understand their place in the community and the wider world. R.E. lessons are enriched with weekly ‘Open the book’ assemblies which focus on bible stories and are led by volunteers from local churches. In addition to this, the children visit the church building in Year 1 to learn about and appreciate what is there.
In Key Stage 2, children deepen their knowledge and understanding about different religions and their impact on individuals. They compare, and contrast, them to understand how having a faith impacts on people’s lives. The children understand that having a faith, religion or set of beliefs can contribute to how a person makes choices and approaches situations. This includes religious beliefs as well as non-religious responses such as Humanists.
