R.E

Religious Education at St Luke's

St. Luke's, through its church values and inclusive vision, celebrates diversity and difference, nurtures children's academic, emotional and spiritual growth. Through the teachings of Christ, we promote love, forgiveness, compassion, patience, trust, thankfulness and friendship. We follow the Bury Agreed syllabus. We also use Understanding Christianity to support our staff with their teaching.

The Bury Agreed Syllabus 2021 asserts the importance and value of religious education (RE) for all pupils, with on-going benefits for an open, articulate and understanding society.

The following purpose statements underpin the syllabus, which is constructed to support pupils and teachers in fulfilling them:

• To contribute dynamically to children and young people’s education in schools 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.

• To learn about religions and beliefs in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions.

• To learn how to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response and to agree or disagree respectfully.

• To equip pupils with systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and beliefs, enabling them to develop their ideas, values and identities.

• To develop in pupils an aptitude for dialogue so that they can participate positively in our society, with its diverse religions and beliefs.

• To enable pupils to gain and deploy the skills needed to understand, interpret and evaluate texts, sources of wisdom and authority and other evidence. They will learn to articulate clearly and coherently their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences while respecting the right of others to differ.

As part of our RE provision, we plan enriching trips to a wide range of places of worship for children to experience as well as having visits from religious leaders.

Our affiliated church is St. Peter's, Roch Valley, Bury.

More details about St. Peter's can be found here.

Right of Withdrawal from Religious Education

RE is compulsory in schools upto the age of 18. Parents can ask to withdraw their child from parts or all of the lessons.

The Right of Withdrawal from Religious Education:

Religion and belief have become more visible in public life in recent years, making it important that all pupils should have an opportunity to engage in RE. However, the parent of a pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school (or pupils themselves if they are aged 18 or over) may request that they be excused from all or part of the religious education (RE) provided.

Parents who wish to withdraw their children from RE should be aware of its aims and what is covered in the RE curriculum and that they are given the opportunity to discuss this if they wish. It should be made clear whether the withdrawal is from the whole RE curriculum or specific parts of it. No reasons need be given

Important - limitations to withdraw

If pupils are withdrawn from RE, schools have a duty to supervise them, though not to provide additional teaching. A pupil may be required to work in another area of the school, such as library or break out area.
Whilst parents or carers have a right to withdraw children from RE, they should note that children may also encounter religions and beliefs and wider aspects of faith in other areas of the curriculum from which there is no right of withdrawal.
On occasion, spontaneous questions about religious matters are raised by pupils or issues related to religion arise in other curriculum subjects such as history or citizenship (PSHE) For example, schools promote community cohesion and help pupils to understand ideas about identity and diversity, feelings and emotions within both religious and non-religious contexts.

Managing the Right of Withdrawal

Where a request for withdrawal is made, the school must comply and excuse the pupil until the request is rescinded. Though not legally required, it is good practice for a head teacher to invite parents to discuss their written request.

(Section 71(3), School Standards and Framework Act 1998).