Religious Education

At South Norwood Primary, we want all children to be exposed to a wide range of religions in order to gain an appreciation and understanding of the diversity we have in our school, our local area and the wider world around us. We want to teach our children to respect and embrace the similarities and differences each individual has and to show them that, despite these, the underlining message of each religion is to be good people that care for others and the surrounding environment, showing kindness, empathy, compassion and respect. A varied RE curriculum helps us to teach transferable skills that the children can apply in all aspects of life.

We teach RE via the Croydon SACRE Scheme of work.

Teaching and Learning

We want to provide a thought-provoking and ambitious curriculum that gives children the opportunity to discuss, compare, apply and reflect on what they have learnt. By creating a curriculum that covers different religions (including humanism) in depth, we help children to acknowledge their sense of identity and belonging both individually and as part of a community. This also means we can give the children the ability to make informed judgements based on academically accurate facts.

In order to provide more impact from the RE lessons we teach, we ensure lessons are taught for one hour each week. We employ a more varied approach, using more practical teaching methods including art, drama and music, relevant artefacts and pictures, but most importantly, discussion and debate. We want to use these methods as an avenue to build on the children's thinking skills, and their ability to reflect.  Where possible, we want our pupils to have opportunities to encounter local faith communities through visits to local places of worship or visits from members of local faith communities. All of our children visit a place of worship throughout the year.  By the end of year 6 each child will have been exposed to a place of worship from each religion studied.

“This syllabus is based on a Big Question for each year group with a subsidiary question in each year for each term, and weekly questions for each week of the unit. Following the syllabus and using the units of work will enable pupils to explore their own and other attitudes and discover the answers to these questions.” – Croydon SACRE

Right to Withdraw

Withdrawal – Parents have the right to withdraw their children from all or parts of the RE Curriculum by making an application to the headteacher.