At Wavendon Gate School, we teach Religious Education because we want our pupils to be open-minded and respectful individuals who have a positive attitude towards other people. Teaching Religious Education provides pupils with the knowledge of the religions within our community and the wider world. It enables pupils to gain an understanding of other people’s beliefs and values. We strive for our pupils to acquire and deepen their knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other principal religions represented in Britain and the world. These religions are Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Buddhism. We want to enrich our pupil’s understanding of the influence of beliefs, values and traditions on individuals, communities, societies and cultures. Equipping our pupils with this knowledge will enable them to have a respectful and positive attitude towards other people, honouring their right to hold beliefs different from their own. Our pupils learn to be respectful when listening to other people’s point of view even if they differ from their own. This is an invaluable skill for them to develop and use at school, at home and in the community.
At Wavendon Gate School, we aim to provide a rich first-hand experience and understanding of the religions and cultures that evolve from people’s beliefs. We want the children to widen their worlds by exploring the different cultures whilst using enquiry and debate to deepen their knowledge and empathy towards cultures and religions around the world. This approach promotes the freedom of choice and the right to respectfully express views and beliefs in a safe environment. We provide pupils with the knowledge to enable them to make their own decisions on what they believe. We listen to our pupils and value their thoughts. Our Religious Education curriculum has been amended based on what our pupils want to learn to enable them to be well-rounded and respectful members of the community.
At Wavendon Gate School we follow the Milton Keynes Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education.
In the Milton Keynes Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2017, pupils are encouraged to make strong links between and within religions by
- Believing a fath and its texts and teachings
- Belonging to a faith and to other believers; and
- Behaving in a way that is required by the texts and teachings of each faith.
RE is taught so that pupils not only have a secure grasp of these three areas and the links between them, but also to ensure that pupils have opportunity to make their own responses and reflections to the learning that comes from a study of each of these key strands of religious practice.
At Wavendon Gate School, we use Discovery RE to support the delivery of the Milton Keynes Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. Discovery RE is an enquiry-based scheme of work, covering the six principal world faiths in a progressive way from Foundation to Year 6. Throughout all the enquiries, the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is carefully considered. Each enquiry lasts for half a term and begins with a “big” enquiry question. Each enquiry is split into a four-step process:
- Engagement – The children discuss the theme of the enquiry from their own experience.
- Investigation – The children will investigate what the people following the religion believe about it.
- Evaluation – The children will reflect on the knowledge they have gained from their investigation to enable them to answer the enquiry question.
- Expression – The children will reflect on the knowledge they have gained and apply it to their own lives, allowing them to form their own beliefs and identity.
The Discovery RE Owl Crew are used throughout the four-step enquiry to support questioning. Each year group has an owl and you will notice that the amount of feathers on their chest denotes the year group that the owl belongs to. The names of each owl means wisdom or intelligence in a range of languages. The Owls are the source of wisdom and are used to take children’s learning further by asking deeper more profound questions. The owls can answer questions that the children have asked and they can also ask the children questions.
