Religious Education

At Mears Ashby, we believe that Religious Education plays a significant role in the promotion of spiritual, moral, cultural and mental development, preparing learners for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life and helping them to become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.

We follow the Understanding Christianity scheme of work for our teaching of Christianity. This is supplemented by the Diocese of Peterborough Syllabus for Religious Education 2019 – 2024, which is mainly used for the teaching of other world faiths.

The syllabus aims for pupils to explore core Christian concepts by using important teachings from Bible texts, making sense of them and understanding the impact of these texts and concepts on Christians today.

Religious Education is taught weekly as a discrete subject. As a Church of England school, we prioritise the teaching of Christianity, which accounts for two thirds of our programme of study. Further units of study provide in-depth coverage of three other major religions including Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism as well as the opportunity to examine other religious beliefs and attitudes such as Humanism.

Through RE lessons, we help children to both learn about and to learn from religion and belief. The units of study are all question-based and lessons are planned which allow children to be active, thoughtful, reflective and expressive in their handling of questions about beliefs, religion, spirituality and values. We aim to include elements of enquiry, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and reflection within our lessons.

We use a varied range of teaching and learning strategies in order to make Religious Education dynamic and challenging for all pupils. These include whole class lessons, pair and group discussions, drama, role-play, ICT, visits, outside speakers, audio-visual stimuli, artwork and the use of religious artefacts.

Religious Education must be provided for all registered pupils in full time education. Parents do, however, retain the right to withdraw their children from RE. If you have any concerns, in the first instance we would encourage you to talk to your child’s class teacher who can direct you to the RE Subject Leader if you need further information.

Collective Worship

As a Church School, we hold a daily act of Collective Worship for our pupils. They are Christian in nature and have regard for the family background and the ages and aptitudes of our pupils.

Collective Worship provides the opportunity to worship God within the rich tradition of Christian prayer and worship. We aim to foster a sense of fellowship by bringing all members of our school community together each day for times of celebrating, sharing, reflecting, responding and praying in an open and sensitive climate. Individuals are invited to explore and deepen their spirituality and to respond both in their own lives and within the community.

Through Collective Worship we aim to strengthen a sense of belonging and a sharing of values, including Christian, School and British Values. In addition, we aim to stimulate the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils.

Our Acts of Worship contain elements of the following:

• Consideration of, and response to, the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.
• Knowledge and appreciation of the Bible.
• Praise and Prayer to God.
• Exploration of the symbolism within the Christian faith
• Respect and tolerance for people of all faiths, races and cultures.
• Promotion of fundamental British Values.
• Participation in hymns and songs.
• Invitations to participate and observe.
• Ritual and ceremony, stillness and reflection.

Worship is led by staff members with contributions also being made by the children. We benefit from regular Christian visitors who lead our worship, including Reverend Katrina from All Saints’ Church, the CSALT team (Christian School Assembly Link Team) and the CAT team (Christian Assemblies Team). Pupils and staff are involved in planning and evaluating the effectiveness of Worship.

If a parent of a pupil requests that their child be wholly or partly excused from attendance at religious worship at the school, the pupil will be excused until the request is withdrawn.

Prayer Club

We hold a weekly Prayer Club in the school hall on Monday mornings at 8.30am. All families and staff are invited to join us for a short time of prayer and reflection before the start of our week. Prayers are offered and recorded in our Prayer Book and on our Prayer Tree.