Religious Education

Fonthill Primary Academy is made up of pupils from many cultures. As a school we aim to celebrate this diversity and offer a welcoming and inclusive environment for all our pupils.

RE incorporates Fonthill READS into its approach to the subject:

REMEMBER-children go over key themes through a cyclical approach. This allows children to go over content more than once so they understand.

EXPLAIN-children are encouraged to explain their thinking and to over their own opinions on the key questions.

APPLY and DEVELOP-children apply their learning to the key question and develop their thinking by drawing their own conclusions.

SHARE-we take a full part in our local community. This involves engaging with local places of Christian worship (both hosting and visiting) and engaging with other faiths from across Bristol (e.g. visiting a mosque)

We believe that Religious Education provides an opportunity to celebrate and foster awareness of these differences and similarities within our school and the wider world. It is a subject that celebrates diversity and challenges stereotypes. 

RE is taught in accordance with the aims of the Agreed Syllabus produced by Bristol SACRE 

We use an enquiry-based approach, through which we develop children’s critical thinking skills, increase their motivation to learn and enhance their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise. 

This approach takes very seriously the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief. RE does not try to persuade but rather inform and develop the skills with which evaluation can take place 

There are 6 units of work per year (across a two year cycle) each based on a key question that requires children to weigh up evidence and reach a conclusion based on that evidence. 

Religious Education is a key opportunity for children to develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. In RE lessons, as well as PHSE and Assemblies, children are invited to reflect on their personal responses to issues, consider other people’s responses, and appreciate that for some people belief in a spiritual dimension is important.

As part of our provision for Religious Education, we encourage children to visit places of worship (which is part of the Fonthill 101) from a variety of faiths.

Key Questions