The Gainsborough Charles Baines Community Primary School

At Charles Baines Primary School, the aim of our Religious Education (RE) curriculum is to create children who are religiously literate and able to hold balanced and informed conversations about religion and belief. Our RE curriculum has been designed using the Lincolnshire Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education published in 2018.
At Charles Baines Primary School the aim of Religious Education is to help children to:

• Acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other
  principal religions represented in Great Britain


• Appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and our behaviour.


• Develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school. RE plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, particularly PSHE, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children. Diversity, equality and social education is at the heart of what we do, and we don’t shy away from teaching the important concepts that pupils need to know in order to be good British citizens.

It has been agreed that having considered the requirements and guidelines presented in the
Lincolnshire Locally Agreed Syllabus, the following religions have been selected for study:

• Christianity


• Islam


• Judaism


• Hinduism


• Sikhism (Year 6 only)

As Christianity is the predominant religion in the school's pupil population and in the community surrounding the school, Christianity is the chosen faith for Progressed Study.  There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity, and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children.

The children at Charles Baines Primary School will acquire knowledge of religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion. Through their RE learning, the children will make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. Our children will develop an understanding of other people’s cultures, traditions, choices and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community.  Whilst learning RE, pupils will develop key skills such as debating, questioning and seeking to find answers and information. RE will offer our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way.