Religious Education

At Herne Bay Junior School, we aim to extend all pupils knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews.  We believe that this is essential to foster a respect for all members of our school and wider community.   It is also an opportunity to discuss different ideas about life, and to understand the ways in which people choose to make decisions in their lives.  RE can be used as a tool to see things from a different perspective.     

Pupils learn about key customs, rites of passage and celebrations and the vocabulary and symbols associated with these.  They explore and show their understanding of similarities and differences between different religions, considering what it means to be part of a faith community and why this could be seen as valuable. We also look at Humanism and non–religious communities to include all viewpoints and consider the reasoning for this too.  We encourage children to be curious and to ask questions about religions and beliefs. We ask them to reflect on and express their own ideas in response to their learning, building on their knowledge and skills.

Our aim is to foster open minds and open hearts; to be respectful and reflective of different people and their ideas and beliefs.  We see it as an essential skill to be able to coexist with people who may have very different ideas about life and the world.

We do all this through a range of ‘Big Questions’ in line with the Kent Agreed syllabus. Alongside this, we also look at various festivals and holidays and how they are celebrated.  These questions are built upon across the school to begin with observing and reflecting various responses in the lower school, to analysing and appraising ideas in the upper school.  We aim to guide children though many different religious and non-religious ideas and how they can respond to and understand them. We are the link between the exploration and discovery of religion in KS1 and the applying and interpreting of religion in KS3.

If you have any further questions about our RE curriculum please contact the school office