Religious Education – Statement of Intent
Bishop Wood Junior School bases everything it does on our core values of wisdom, hope, community and dignity. These are especially relevant in RE; we hope to impart wisdom and knowledge about the major world religions, to inspire hope in our children that a more tolerant society of the future is possible, teach that a thriving community of different religions can be aspired to and that all people, whether or not they hold a religious belief, are deserving of giving their views with dignity.
As a church school, we teach the Herts Agreed Syllabus for RE, but supplement that with material from ‘Understanding Christianity’ to ensure that Christianity is taught across every year group in the school.
Nevertheless, as Tring is quite a monocultural place, we feel it is very important to teach the children about life beyond the town and as such in depth studies of Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism are also undertaken. This not only helps our pupils understand the world around them, but it also helps encourage a respect of, and open-mindedness towards, people who are different to them. It will also ultimately allow them to challenge prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping when it is seen.
Our curriculum seeks to not only impart knowledge about different religions, but also to get the children thinking about wider issues. Therefore, as well as learning about significant figures, religious stories and how rules may affect the actions of particular groups, they also consider different ideas about God, how religion might help to provide answers to modern world problems (eg the environment), and deeper philosophical questions around creation, why we are here and why God allows suffering.