Welcome to the Religious Education Curriculum Page.

My Name is Mrs Jeffery and I am the subject leader for Religious Education. I have always had an interest in Religious Education, even in my University Days and therefore my degree is in Education, Theology and Religious Studies. I am passionate about exploring Christianity and other World Faiths with children and have been subject lead for a number of years. I hold the Church School's Certificate in Church School Studies and have enjoyed developing the Religious Education at St. Paul's. Over the years I have had the privilege of teaching Religious Education in all year groups which has given me an amazing insight into our ever developing R.E. Curriculum.

At St. Paul's we follow the Blackburn Diocese Board of Education Religious Education Syllabus. I have had the privilege of working alongside and under the guidance of Lisa Fenton (Primary School and Academies Adviser & SIAMS Lead Blackburn Diocese). I was on the working party for the first Syllabus Lisa launched many years ago and we were a pilot school for the most recently launched syllabus. We subscribe to the current online syllabus called Questful RE.

Below is an extract from the Blackburn Questful RE Syllabus which explains the distinctive nature of RE

Quality RE has the potential to have a powerful and lasting effect on the child’s heart and mind. It is a subject that combines academic rigour with the development of the character and spirit of the child. RE provides opportunities for spiritual development and personal reflection. On a quest to discover more about religion and world views pupils will discover more about themselves. As RE develops children’s knowledge and understanding of the nature of religion and belief, it provokes challenging questions about meaning and purpose, truth and values, identity and belonging. Pupils will experience, explore and encounter a wide range of creative and challenging multi-sensory activities that will help them to discover the answers to fundamental questions such as these: –

• Who am I and what does it mean to be me?
• In what ways do/can I relate to others?
• How/where can I encounter God?
• How can I make a positive contribution to the world in which I live?
• What values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour are important to me?
• What does it mean to have faith?
• Who/what influences and inspires me?

Through an open investigative enquiry approach the pupils will be given the sense of being on a quest of discovery. A key feature of the syllabus is the large number of questions included in each unit. The purpose of these questions is to give pupils opportunity to investigate, reflect, evaluate and make meaning. In doing so they will discover more about themselves, their relationships with others, their relationship with the world around them and their relationship with God. The questions set the route through the curriculum content.

Here are some comments from our lastest pupil interviews regarding RE:

'There are Big Questions and you can write about what you think.'

'In Y6 RE we don’t just do stories we learn about the meaning and how it applies to us.'

'We have learned about the similarities and differences between world faiths. We did our own research on ipads.'

'It is good to know that teachers know about our culture when we learn about Islam.'