Our aim for RE is that our children should be ‘religiously literate’.

At its simplest, this is the ability to hold an informed, balanced, and respectful conversation about religion and belief.

Our RE curriculum enables our children to acquire a rich, deep knowledge and understanding of Christian belief and practice. We wish our pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living faith that influences the lives of people worldwide and as the religion that has most shaped British culture and heritage. We also wish to enable pupils to know and understand other major world religions and (non-religious) world views, their impact on society, culture, and the wider world, enabling pupils to express ideas and insights. 

This is taught through the spiral curriculum of Understanding Christianity and Canterbury Diocese plans for Sikhi, Hindu Dharma, Islam and Judaism.

From September 2023 the school now teaches units for Humanism and two universal units.

The school delivers a challenging and relevant curriculum, each year group has their own highlight in RE.

Year R – RE is introduced through persona dolls, mainly Christian but also other religions, as the children share stories. Families are invited to an informal tour of the local church with their children lead by a member of the clergy as an introduction to Christianity. This finishes with a picnic in the churchyard.

Yr1 continue to use persona dolls to introduce Judaism, building on the ideas from YrR. The class visit and take part in a bespoke workshop at Chatham Memorial Synagogue.

Yr 2 spend time exploring the schools grounds, forest school and sanctuary in relation to the story of Creation and use the school’s interactive telling of Holy Week as part of their learning for RE.

Yr3 visit for a guided educational tour of the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, at Gravesend or Medway Towns Gurdwara Sabha. This includes langar. In school, the children are given the opportunity to talk with people who live the Sikh traditions.

Yr4 have a focus on environmental issues and this can be linked with areas of school life. The school is well resourced with new books and artefacts linked to Hindu Dharma and the children use these to deepen their learning.

Yr5 visit Rochester or Canterbury Cathedrals.

Yr 6 children greatly enjoy discussion and they are given the opportunity to explore and question in a structured and respectful environment. They have a visit from The Wacky Science Show that explores the relationship between faith and science.