Religious Education
For each subject we now have Subject Champions who share their voices and ideas with school leaders.
The Subject Champions for R.E. are:
- Dolphins – Henry
- Seals – Teddy
- Butterflies – Lexie
- Bumblebees – Issra
R.E. Highlights
November 2023
The Year 2 children took their learning on Remembrance to St. Mary’s Church in Alverstoke. It was a valuable opportunity for the children to reflect and be thankful.
Religious Education
Religion and beliefs inform our values and are reflected in what we say and how we behave. RE is an important subject in itself, developing an individual’s knowledge and understanding of the religions and beliefs which form part of contemporary society.
Religious education provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong, and what it means to be human. It can develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, of other principal religions, other religious traditions and worldviews that offer answers to questions such as these. RE also contributes to pupils’ personal development and well-being and to community cohesion by promoting mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse society. RE can also make important contributions to other parts of the school curriculum such as citizenship, personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE education), the humanities, education for sustainable development and others. It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development, deepening the understanding of the significance of religion in the lives of others – individually, communally and cross-culturally. (Religious Education Non- Statutory Guidance, 2010)
Our Curriculum Intent
Living Difference IV
At Gomer Infants we follow Living Difference IV, the agreed syllabus for religious education (RE) in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton. Informed by current educational research, as well as research into religion and worldviews, it builds on the approach to religious education used in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton since 2004.
In Religious Education, we study the diversity of the world and different religious beliefs and practices. Much of our RE teaching is carried out through enquiries, exploring the children’s ideas and emphasis is given to discussion and positive, quality talk. Our religious education learning provides a rich and wide range of experiences which give children opportunities to develop concepts and skills that will help them to make sense of their own experiences and beliefs, and to understand the beliefs and practices of members of faith communities through open, fair-minded enquiry. Religious education is an educational subject in its own right, taught within an educational framework.
Golden Concepts and Words
At Gomer Infant School we teach using concepts, which are ideas, like community, belonging, special and love. We think about these ideas in different ways and link these to the children’s own experiences.
The golden threads are concepts that the children will encounter throughout their time at Gomer. They will be continually visited and developed upon across Reception and Key Stage 1.
At Gomer Infant School we teach religious education using the cycle of enquiry. This begins with the teacher finding interesting ways to bring the concept/word alive for children. This experimental moment is there to ensure that RE always starts with real and concrete situations and encounters, and also makes room for the different ways in which children and young people experience what they encounter.