As a church school Colerne has a distinctive Christian ethos which supports children’s developmental understanding of themselves, others, beauty of our world and the spiritual ‘beyond’. We believe that we should teach our children to engage with their local community and use Christian values as tools to grow and develop spiritually. We have very close links with our church St. John the Baptist, with children and parents attending monthly family services. Children frequently visit the church to support their RE learning and our Celebration Council prepares and leads worship there at key points during the church year. We are respectful and inclusive of the religious beliefs and values of all children in our school community. We encourage an atmosphere in which the cultural and religious traditions of our children can be shared, valued and celebrated.
Our RE teaching is based on the Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus and the Discovery RE resource and is a balance between the study of the beliefs and practises of the Christian faiths and other religions (particularly Islam and Judaism).
Religious Education at Colerne aspires to:
- Be imaginative, engaging, creative, challenging and relevant
- Create an open-hearted, open minded ethos in classrooms
- Make a special contribution to pupil’s skills in language, self-expression, co-operation and understanding
- Enable children to develop attitudes of confidence and thoughtfulness about their own beliefs and tolerance and respect towards others
Three focused units of work are delivered each year. These always respond to a key question of enquiry which drives the learning, and the questions focus on issues of meaning, purpose and value eg. How did the universe begin? Does a beautiful world mean a beautiful God? What can we learn from visiting a sacred space? Children are regularly given opportunities to explore and reflect on “Big Questions” about themselves, others and their beliefs, developing self-knowledge and awareness about their own moral purpose and place in the world.Visits to places of worship and visitors from faith communities are used to bring RE learning to life.
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Collective worship takes place each day either as a whole school or in Key Stage Groups. Bible stories are used with relevance to modern day situations and the children are encouraged to explore the ideas, feelings and actions involved in the Christian teaching and to identify with other people and to begin to appreciate the feelings of others as well as their own. Children are encouraged to understand the consequences of their actions and through this to be able to develop principles for their personal conduct. The termly themes for “Collective Worship’ are carefully linked to the focus areas of our SEAL (Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning) Programmes.
If a parent would like to consider withdrawing their children from any or all religious education or religious worship then this may be further discussed with our Headteacher Rob Parsons.