Religious Education
Religious Education seeks to make a major contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils by helping them to acquire a knowledge and understanding of major world religions, and to develop their own beliefs and values.
Through RE we aim to enable pupils to learn about religions and to learn from them and gain a knowledge and understanding of the beliefs and practices of major world religions, especially Christianity. We also strive to enable pupils to consider ways in which beliefs, values and traditions might have significance for their own lives and encourage pupils to develop the ability to make their own reasoned and informed judgements about the religious and moral issues which arise from reflection on human experience and a study of religious belief and practice.
Religious Education at Wickhambreaux C of E School will challenge stereotypes, misinformation and misconceptions about race, gender and religion. It will seek to present religions in all their richness and diversity in terms of beliefs, traditions customs and lifestyle in a sensitive and accurate way in order to encourage a positive attitude towards that diversity.
What R.E looks like at Wickhambreaux
Subject Leader Profile
Mr Beard has always been interested in world religions and whilst studying for his degree and completing his teacher training he achieved specialism in RE. He has been RE co-ordinator at Wickhambreaux for 12 years and has seen many changes within the RE curriculum. The latest is Understanding Christianity. This is a scheme of work advocated for use by the Church of England for all church schools. Mr Beard successfully completed his training and this is now the framework for all RE taught in school. He is also a regular attendee at the local diocese meetings for RE where he meets with fellow RE co-ordinators to discuss all the latest ideas and any changes within the subject. Mr Beard has always thought that religion plays a crucial role in the world today. Mr Beard feels the importance of using the Understanding Christianity scheme allows all children to acquire a deeper understanding of stories and messages in the Bible as well as an understanding of modern Christianity in practice. The scheme also has units on Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. Here children learn the basic beliefs and practices of these major world religions. Mr Beard is a firm believer that if we understand the values and beliefs of those who are of different faiths there is less likelihood of misunderstanding, fear and prejudice in the world, and it would allow all to live peacefully practising their own faith, religion or belief in peace.
