Middleton St Mary's CE (VC) Primary School

Religious Education (RE) at Middleton St Mary’s

At Middleton St Mary’s, Religious Education is closely woven into daily school life, alongside worship and reflection on our Christian values. Children explore major world faiths and develop their own spiritual understanding, while learning to respect the beliefs of others.

We help pupils understand the role of religion in communities through visits to places of worship, charitable activities like our Harvest food bank collection and workshops with organisations such as Hand to Mouth.

RE provides rich opportunities for children to grow morally, spiritually, socially and culturally. Through RE, RSHE, and collective worship, pupils reflect on life’s big questions and how faith can guide responses to personal and social challenges.

British values—tolerance, respect, democracy, the rule of law, and individual liberty—are promoted through RE and collective worship and align with our school rules: Be safe, be ready, be respectful, and our core Christian values: honesty, faith, respect, learning, and responsibility.

Using the Leeds Syllabus; Believing and Belonging, we learn about other religions and world views, ensuring that pupils develop mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. The Believing and Belonging syllabus is based around six threads or ‘pathways’ through which the most important features of RE may be understood.

As a church school, the teaching of Christianity is at the heart of our RE curriculum. Through the Understanding Christianity resource, the use of an enquiry approach engages with significant theological concepts and the children’s own understanding of the world as part of their wider religious literacy.