RE
What does RE look like at Brill?
At Brill Church of England School, Religious Education is a valued and important part of our curriculum and our identity as a Church of England school.
Our Christian vision,
“With the wind in our sails, we shall live ‘life in all its fullness’.” (John 10:10)
shapes the life of our school and our aspiration for every child to flourish academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.
Through RE, we want children to develop a rich understanding of Christianity as a living and diverse world faith, while also encountering a range of other religions and worldviews. Children are encouraged to ask meaningful questions, explore different beliefs and perspectives and reflect thoughtfully upon their own ideas and experiences.
Our RE curriculum is supported by Jigsaw/Discovery RE, providing an enquiry-based approach that places questions, discussion, knowledge and reflection at the heart of learning.
Our close relationship with All Saints Church in Brill and the wider church community further enriches children’s experiences, enabling them to encounter Christianity as something that is both studied in the classroom and lived within their local community.
We want RE to be a subject in which children can think deeply, ask big questions and engage respectfully with ideas that may be different from their own.
INTENT
Our RE curriculum is ambitious for every child.
We want children to develop secure knowledge and understanding of Christianity and a range of religions and worldviews, while developing the ability to question, interpret, compare, reflect and form thoughtful responses.
RE provides children with opportunities to explore some of life’s biggest questions:
What do people believe?
Why do they believe it?
How does belief influence the way people live?
What does it mean to belong?
How do people understand God and the world?
What can we learn from one another?
Through our RE curriculum, we aim for children to:
- develop secure knowledge and understanding of Christianity;
- recognise Christianity as a diverse, global and living faith;
- develop knowledge of a range of religions and worldviews;
- explore how beliefs influence people’s lives, choices and communities;
- encounter sacred texts, traditions, practices and places of worship;
- ask increasingly thoughtful theological and philosophical questions;
- recognise similarities and differences within and between religions and worldviews;
- consider different interpretations and perspectives;
- use appropriate religious and theological vocabulary;
- express their own ideas thoughtfully and respectfully;
- listen to and engage with the views of others; and
- develop curiosity, empathy and respect for people whose beliefs and experiences may differ from their own.
RE at Brill is not about telling children what to believe.
It provides children with the knowledge and space to explore what people believe, why those beliefs matter and how faith and worldview can shape the way people understand and experience the world.
We encourage children to be bold in asking big questions, brave in exploring different ideas and Brill-iant in listening, thinking and responding with respect.
IMPLEMENTATION
Jigsaw / Discovery RE
Our Religious Education curriculum is supported by Jigsaw/Discovery RE, providing a structured and progressive enquiry-based approach to RE from the Early Years through to Year 6.
Big questions and enquiry sit at the heart of learning.
Children are encouraged to explore ideas, develop relevant knowledge and consider how beliefs are understood and expressed within different religions and worldviews.
Through this approach, children develop both their religious knowledge and their ability to think deeply about belief.
Enquiries provide opportunities for children to:
- engage with a meaningful question or concept;
- investigate religious beliefs, teachings and practices;
- encounter different religions and worldviews;
- use knowledge and evidence to explore possible answers;
- consider different perspectives;
- evaluate what they have learned;
- express and justify their own thinking; and
- reflect upon how their learning connects with their own experiences and understanding of the world.
This enquiry approach means that RE at Brill is not simply about remembering facts about different religions.
Children are expected to use what they know to think, question, compare, interpret and respond.
As children progress through the school, they revisit important concepts and encounter increasingly sophisticated questions, enabling their knowledge and understanding to deepen over time.
RE in a Church of England School
As a Church of England school, Christianity has a central and significant place within our RE curriculum.
Children develop an increasingly rich understanding of the Christian story, Christian beliefs and theology, exploring key concepts and considering how these influence the lives of Christians today.
Importantly, children learn that Christianity is not one single experience or expression of faith.
They encounter Christianity as a diverse, global and living faith, considering how Christians from different traditions, cultures and communities may express and experience their faith in different ways.
Alongside Christianity, children encounter and develop meaningful knowledge of other religions and worldviews, helping prepare them to live with understanding, curiosity and respect in an increasingly diverse society.
All Saints Church – Faith in Our Community
Our relationship with All Saints Church, Brill is an important and valued part of school life.
The church provides children with a tangible connection between their classroom learning and a living Christian community.
Through visits to the church and opportunities to engage with local clergy and members of the church community, children can explore Christian worship, traditions, symbolism and practice within an authentic setting.
Our relationship with All Saints helps children understand that religion is not simply something found in a textbook – it is lived, experienced and expressed by people and communities.
Our village and church therefore provide an important local context for children’s developing religious literacy.
Knowledge, Enquiry and Big Questions
RE at Brill combines secure knowledge with thoughtful enquiry.
Children need knowledge in order to engage meaningfully with religious and philosophical questions. Key beliefs, concepts, vocabulary, texts, traditions and practices are therefore explicitly taught and revisited as children progress through school.
Alongside this knowledge, children are encouraged to ask questions and explore ideas.
They learn that some questions do not have one simple answer and that people may reach different conclusions depending upon their beliefs, experiences and worldview.
As children develop, we encourage them to move beyond simply describing what somebody believes towards considering:
Why might this be important?
What difference might this belief make?
How might different people understand this?
What might influence someone’s beliefs?
This enables children to develop increasingly sophisticated religious and theological thinking.
Encountering Religion and Worldviews
Wherever possible, we want children to encounter religion as it is actually lived.
Children have opportunities to learn through sacred texts, artefacts, places of worship, visitors and first-hand experiences.
They encounter different religious and non-religious perspectives and learn that there can be diversity within a religion or worldview as well as differences between them.
Visits and experiences beyond our immediate community broaden children’s horizons and enable them to engage with beliefs and practices that may be less familiar to them.
This helps children develop the knowledge, confidence and vocabulary to discuss religion and belief with curiosity and respect rather than assumption.
Spiritual Development and Reflection
RE provides rich opportunities for children to explore questions of meaning, purpose, identity, belonging, morality and the nature of existence.
Children are given opportunities to reflect upon what they encounter and consider how it connects with their own experiences, questions and developing understanding of the world.
Reflection is not about expecting children to reach a particular conclusion.
Instead, we create space for children to wonder, question, consider and respond.
These opportunities contribute to children’s spiritual development and support our wider aspiration that every member of our school community should be able to flourish and experience life in all its fullness.
Our Christian Values
Our school values of Honesty, Hope, Courage and Compassion are rooted in our Christian vision and woven throughout the life of Brill School.
RE gives children opportunities to explore these and other values more deeply, considering how beliefs and teachings can influence the choices people make and the ways in which they treat others.
Children consider themes such as justice, responsibility, forgiveness, service, stewardship and compassion, encountering examples of people whose beliefs have inspired them to act.
They are encouraged not simply to know our values, but to consider what those values might look like when lived out in the real world.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
First-hand experiences are an important way of bringing children’s RE learning to life.
Alongside our strong relationship with All Saints Church, children have opportunities to encounter different faiths, traditions and places of worship through visits, visitors and experiences beyond school.
These opportunities help children connect classroom knowledge with real people and communities and recognise the diversity that exists both within and between religions.
They also provide valuable opportunities for children to ask questions, challenge assumptions and develop their understanding of Britain as a religiously and culturally diverse society.
Our SIAMS Journey
Our most recent SIAMS inspection recognised the strength of Brill’s Christian vision and the way in which it enables pupils and adults to flourish.
RE was recognised as a priority within the school, with a carefully planned, challenging and well-sequenced curriculum. Our children benefit from opportunities to explore a range of religions and worldviews and deepen their understanding through experiences beyond the classroom.
As a school committed to continual development, we continue to build upon these strong foundations.
In particular, we are continuing to strengthen children’s understanding of Christianity as a diverse and living world faith and developing opportunities for spirituality and reflection across our wider curriculum.
Our SIAMS journey is not something separate from everyday school life. It forms part of our continuing reflection upon who we are as a Church school and how our vision is lived out for every child.
Respectful Dialogue
RE provides children with important opportunities to practise disagreeing well.
Children learn to listen carefully to others, ask appropriate questions, explain their own thinking and recognise that people can hold different beliefs and perspectives while treating one another with dignity and respect.
We create classrooms in which children feel safe to explore ideas, ask difficult questions and express their own thoughts.
Children do not need to share the same beliefs in order to listen to, understand and respect one another.
This supports our aspiration to prepare children to participate thoughtfully and compassionately in a diverse and changing world.
An Inclusive RE Curriculum
RE is for every child at Brill, regardless of their own faith, worldview or background.
As a Church of England school, we proudly celebrate our Christian foundation while warmly welcoming children and families of all faiths and none.
Teachers use appropriate adaptations, vocabulary support, visual resources, artefacts and experiences to enable all pupils, including those with SEND and additional needs, to engage meaningfully with important religious concepts.
Children who demonstrate secure understanding are challenged to make increasingly sophisticated connections, consider different interpretations and construct thoughtful, well-reasoned responses.
Every child’s questions and contributions are valued.
IMPACT
By the end of their Brill journey, we want our children to be knowledgeable, curious and respectful thinkers who can engage confidently with questions of religion, belief and worldview.
We want children to leave Brill able to:
- demonstrate secure knowledge and understanding of Christianity;
- recognise Christianity as a diverse, global and living faith;
- demonstrate meaningful knowledge of a range of religions and worldviews;
- explain how beliefs may influence people’s lives and choices;
- use religious and theological vocabulary accurately;
- engage thoughtfully with sacred texts and other sources;
- recognise diversity within and between religious traditions;
- ask meaningful theological and philosophical questions;
- consider different interpretations and perspectives;
- express and justify their own ideas;
- listen respectfully to the views of others;
- reflect upon questions of meaning, purpose and belonging; and
- approach difference with curiosity, compassion and respect.
Most importantly, we want children to leave Brill understanding that belief matters – whether that is religious belief, a non-religious worldview or the values and ideas through which people make sense of their lives.
We want them to have the knowledge to understand others, the confidence to ask difficult questions and the compassion to listen when somebody’s answer is different from their own.
Through RE, we want our children to look beyond themselves, think deeply and engage thoughtfully with the wonderfully diverse world in which they live.
“With the wind in our sails, we shall live ‘life in all its fullness’.”
Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Brill-iant.
