As a Church of England School, we believe that all children should have the chance to reflect upon their own beliefs and what it means to be a Christian. Our RE curriculum allows children to learn about and from a range of religious and non-religious world views within a local and global context and to understand that everyone has their own worldview and that it is a part of an individuals search for meaning in life.

RE at LDSM, aims:

• To enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith, by exploring core theological concepts;
• To enable pupils to develop knowledge and skills in making sense of biblical texts and understanding their impact in the lives of Christians;
• To develop pupils’ abilities to connect, critically reflect upon, evaluate and apply their learning to their own growing understanding of religion and belief (particularly Christianity), of themselves, the world and human experience.
• To allow pupils to explore a range of global and world views
• To provide pupils with a safe space to explore their own religious, spiritual and/or philosophical ways of seeing, living and thinking, believing and belonging.

As a school within the Diocese of Guildford, we follow the 'Diocesan Guidelines' for RE. The Guildford syllabus is supplemented by units of work from the 'Understanding Christianity' resource, which allows the children to build up a picture and understanding of The Bible through a thread of themes that the children return to each year.

The Guildford Syllabus includes opportunities each year for children to study other global and world views alongside Christianity, broadening horizons and enabling children to reflect on the similarities and differences between them. Each year children will complete a thematic unit where they aim to answer a big question drawing together their knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other world views. The thematic units as well as the Understanding Christianity units allow for a spiral curriculum within our RE provision. There are three golden threads within the Guildford Diocese syllabus that enhance this: Sociology (community),Theology (God) and Philosophy (Identity).

Emphasis is placed on the development of:

• Asking important questions and making links between thoughts and ideas;
• Expressing views and providing thoughtful responses;
• Applying ideas to their own lives and the lives of others;
• Considering the similarities and differences between faiths;
• Using an increasingly wide religious vocabulary to explain concepts;
• Empathising with others and responding sensitively.

We feel it is important to give pupils time to reflect upon what they have learnt and question the world around them. Pupils are encouraged to consider their opinions on a wide range of subjects and express their opinions through discussion. Therefore, Children have RE books that move up the school with them and each class has a reflective journal to record class discussions and reflections on learning, deeper thinking from our whole school collective worship and pupil lead worship.

Each year we undertake two pause days: Easter Pause Day and Pentecost Pause Day. We also hold termly parish communion and enjoy strong links with St Mary’s Church. In addition to this, pupils have the opportunity to visit a place of worship each year throughout KS2 to supplement their learning.

Find out more about our curriculum by visiting The Guildford Diocese or Understanding Christianity's websites or by reading our RE policy.

Understanding Christianity: https://www.understandingchristianity.org.uk/the-project/the-aim-approach/ 

The Guildford Diocese: https://www.cofeguildford.org.uk/surrey-agreed-syllabus/

RE Progression map