“We have more in common than that which divides us.” — Jo Cox
At Abingdon, Religious Education is an essential part of how we help children understand themselves, understand others and understand the world they share.
Our school community is rich in religious, cultural and linguistic diversity, with the major world religions represented within our families and community. We see this diversity as an asset. Our RE curriculum reflects and celebrates it, while giving every child the knowledge, vocabulary and confidence to explore beliefs, practices and ideas that may be different from their own.
We follow the Middlesbrough Agreed Syllabus, whose principal aim is to engage pupils in enquiring into and exploring questions arising from the study of religion and belief. We bring this entitlement to life through a curriculum that is deliberately shaped around our children and community.
From knowledge to understanding
RE is not about asking children to agree with particular beliefs. It is about developing the knowledge and understanding to engage thoughtfully with religion and belief.
Children learn about and from a range of religious and non-religious worldviews. They encounter beliefs, traditions, practices, celebrations, sacred texts, values and lived experiences, developing increasingly sophisticated understanding as they move through the school.
We deliberately create opportunities for children to ask questions, explore different perspectives, consider evidence, explain their thinking and listen carefully to others. They learn that people within the same religion may hold different interpretations and that a person’s identity can be shaped by multiple, overlapping aspects of their life.
This supports children to understand both what people believe and how those beliefs are lived.
Beyond tolerance: towards respect
As a School of Sanctuary, we believe that inclusion requires more than simply tolerating difference.
Tolerance can mean little more than accepting that someone who is different exists. Our ambition is higher. We want children to develop genuine respect: the knowledge, curiosity and openness to recognise the value in other people’s beliefs, identities, traditions and experiences, even when they are different from their own.
Respect does not require agreement.
Children learn that they can be confident in their own identity while being genuinely interested in the identities of others. They learn to disagree thoughtfully, challenge misconceptions respectfully and engage with difference without fear or hostility.
“We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not.” — Kofi Annan
This is fundamental to belonging. Children should not have to leave part of their identity at the school gate in order to belong at Abingdon. Equally, every child should learn that belonging does not depend upon everyone being the same.
RE, RSHE and Personal Development
Religious Education is closely connected to our wider RSHE and Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum. Together, these areas help children develop the knowledge, language and dispositions they need to navigate relationships, identity, difference, wellbeing and life in modern Britain.
RE provides opportunities to explore questions such as:
- What does it mean to live a good life?
- How do beliefs influence the choices people make?
- What does community mean?
- Why do people celebrate particular events and traditions?
- How should we respond when people disagree?
- What does fairness look like?
- How can we care for others?
- What does it mean to belong?
These questions complement the wider work of RSHE and PSHE, helping children develop respectful relationships, understand themselves and others, make informed choices and participate positively in their communities.
SMSC and protected characteristics
RE makes a significant contribution to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC).
Spiritually, children have space to reflect on meaning, purpose, values, beliefs and the questions that matter to people.
Morally, they consider ideas about right and wrong, responsibility, justice, compassion and how people should treat one another.
Socially, they develop the skills to listen, communicate, cooperate and engage respectfully with perspectives that differ from their own.
Culturally, they develop a richer understanding of the religious and cultural traditions that shape our school, our local community, Britain and the wider world.
Our teaching also supports children’s understanding of the protected characteristics and the importance of treating people fairly and with dignity. Through learning about religion, belief, identity and lived experience, children encounter difference as a normal and valuable part of human society. They are supported to recognise prejudice, challenge stereotypes and understand why discrimination is harmful.
This is not a separate strand of inclusion. It is part of how we teach children to live together.
Representation matters
Our curriculum deliberately includes a broad range of voices, traditions and lived experiences. Children encounter religion not simply as a set of facts, but as something lived by real people within families and communities.
This is particularly important at Abingdon. When children see their own faith, culture and traditions represented accurately and respectfully, they experience the curriculum as something that belongs to them.
At the same time, learning about beliefs and traditions beyond their own gives children the opportunity to develop windows into other lives and mirrors of shared human experience.
Our community therefore does not sit outside the curriculum. Our community helps shape the curriculum, and the curriculum helps children understand and strengthen their community.
RE and the ARCH
Religious Education provides rich opportunities for children to live our Abingdon ARCH:
- Aspirations – developing the confidence to be curious, ask difficult questions and engage with the wider world.
- Resilience – recognising that complex questions do not always have simple answers and learning to sit thoughtfully with uncertainty and difference.
- Harmony – understanding, respecting and valuing people whose beliefs, cultures and experiences may differ from our own.
- Commitment – listening carefully, thinking deeply and developing the knowledge needed to participate responsibly in our community.
These are not values taught separately from the subject. They are dispositions children practise through the study of religion and belief.
From belonging to participation
Our RE curriculum helps children move beyond simply knowing that differences exist. They learn how to understand difference, talk about difference and live well alongside difference.
That contributes directly to our wider ambition:
Belong → Understand → Respect → Participate → Flourish → Thrive → Achieve.
We want children to leave Abingdon secure in who they are, curious about others and confident to participate in a diverse society.
They should understand that their identity matters, that other people’s identities matter, and that a harmonious community is not created by making everyone the same, but by learning how to live, learn and thrive together.
At Abingdon, we do not teach children simply to tolerate difference. We teach them to understand it, respect it and value the people who live it.
Religious Education Progression Document
Right to withdraw
Parents have the legal right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE lessons. They can withdraw their child without giving a reason. If you wish to excerise this right, please complete the attached form and return it to the school office.
