Purpose of Study

RE contributes to the Carville Child’s education by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. In RE pupils learn about religious and non-religious world views in order to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. They learn to interpret, analyse, evaluate and critically respond to the claims that religious and non-religious world views make. Pupils learn to express their insights and to agree or disagree respectfully.

We aim to equip the Carville Child with knowledge and understanding of what is meant by the term’s ‘religion’ and ‘worldview’ as well as systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religious and non-religious world views.

RE offers opportunities for personal reflection and the Carville Child’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as it encourages them to examine the significance of their learning in relation to themselves and others. It enables the Carville Child to explore their own beliefs (whether they are religious or not), ideas, feelings, experiences and values in the light of what they learn. RE encourages empathy and respect. RE enables the Carville Child to have a nuanced and informed understanding of political, social and moral issues that they will need to face as they grow up in an increasingly globalised world. It will help them deal positively with controversial issues, to manage strongly held differences of belief and to challenge stereotypes and prejudice. As such RE is central to good local, national and global citizenship.

Teaching in RE must promote therefore openness, respect for others, scholarly accuracy and critical enquiry.