Our Philosophy:

In Brighton Avenue Primary School, we believe that it is important for all of our children to learn from and about religion/beliefs and ways of life, so that they can better understand the world around them. At our school, we value RE because it promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of our children at the school and of society. It prepares our children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life and promotes community cohesion. In line with British Values, we place respect and acceptance at the forefront of delivering the Religious Education curriculum. We seek to let children of different faiths be the experts on the subject and where appropriate, present different parts of sessions. This affords the child the opportunity to ‘be the teacher’ and embed their understanding through responding to questions with the support of staff. Other children enjoy being taught by their peers, and this creates a language and conversational rich learning environment. Visitors to the school are also prevalent, particularly community links with local Churches (Durham Cathedral, St George’s)  Mosques (Newcastle Central Mosque) and the parents of our pupils, who help to give us an insight into how different religions are practiced, whilst living in modern Britain and attending a mainstream school such as ours. Parents are invited into school during multicultural week to give our children an insight into how other faiths are practiced at home. We have links with the Sikh, Tamil, Jewish and Muslim community and visits to school are actively encouraged and organised. Educational visits are undertaken to enhance our curriculum and we are always looking to forge new links outside of the school environment.

Our Aims:

The principals of teaching  Religious Education are consistent with our school philosophy and take into account the National Curriculum Guidance for RE and the Gateshead Agreed Syllabus. (See RE Policy for further information).

Principals of Teaching Religious Education:

• To ensure that children of all faiths feel valued in our diverse school
• To nurture a diverse, happy school community
• To give children the opportunity to learn about their peers' religion and beliefs of others
• To encourage children to form their own ideas and opinions, based on what they have learnt
• To allow children to voice their ideas and opinions based on informed thinking
• To ensure that acceptance of others' beliefs is part of our core teaching
• To build upon prior knowledge using the power of 3
• To provide educational visits/visitors so that children's knowledge is expanded beyond the boundaries of school
• To ensure that children learn through a wide range of activities including, reading, computing, history, geography, science PHSE&C and the arts
• To ensure that staff and children make effective links between other subjects e.g. history and Judaism, science and the creation story
• To give children the knowledge to be able to compare and contrast