Our Vision

Loving God~Serving others~Fulfilling our potential

St Margaret’s is a welcoming church school where we learn how to love God, one another and ourselves.

We foster a Christian ethos and develop positive relationships with our church, Ifield and the wider community.

Through the highest quality of teaching and learning, our children fulfil their unique potential. Our school is a nurturing haven where pupils thrive in a culture of care, respect, and belonging, inspiring them to make a meaningful difference in the world.

	Loving God ~ Serving Others ~ Fulfilling our Potential  St. Margaret's School aims to provide a happy learning environment that encourages and develops the potential of all who work in it. Our aim is for each child to progress spiritually, academically, socially and physically within a Christian community and to leave with a love of learning and an awareness of God's love. While following the teachings of Jesus, children are encouraged to respect the beliefs of others, show tolerance towards individuals and learn from the wider world.
Being a church school we welcome pupils from across the borough of Crawley and further afield, catering for a wide range of abilities and social needs. Staff/pupil relationships are very good, and, despite the size of the school, parents frequently comment on the family atmosphere and their support for school and PTA activities is good.
Our Christian values underpin the life of the school and can be clearly seen in our worship, our curriculum and our relationships. St. Margaret's has grown considerably since the 1950's and building developments as a result of educational changes in the town provided the benefit of the development of a Special Support Centre for pupils with physical disabilities.
Our aim is for each child to progress academically, socially, physically and spiritually within a Christian community, leaving St. Margaret’s as confident independent learners with an awareness of God’s love.

Religious Education Policy 

Our Vision 

Loving God ~ Serving others ~ Fulfilling our potential 

St Margaret’s is a welcoming church school where we learn how to love God, one another and ourselves. 

We foster a Christian ethos and develop positive relationships with our church, Ifield and the wider community. 

Through the highest quality of teaching and learning, our children fulfil their unique potential. Our school is a nurturing haven where pupils thrive in a culture of care, respect, and belonging, inspiring them to make a meaningful difference in the world. 
 

Religious Education is a core subject at St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School and is at the centre of our ethos. We believe that R.E. plays an important role in preparing pupils for adult life and endeavour to equip children with knowledge and skills to become responsible citizens who can make reasoned, informed and positive judgements on religious and moral issues. 

Aims  

Through the teaching of R.E., we aim to create a caring community in which children can develop understanding and knowledge about the Christian faith, as well as Other Faiths. The Christian ethos is implicit throughout the life and work of the school and through planned activities that allow for progression and for the individuality and personal reflection of each child.  Our R.E. teaching also helps to develop tolerance and harmony as we encourage respect and understanding of different religious traditions, commitments and for those holding different beliefs.   

We aim to help children to: 

• Develop an awareness of spiritual and moral issues in life experiences. 

• Develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other major world religions, respectfully taking into account religious traditions and cultural differences.  

• Develop knowledge and understanding of British Values.  

• Develop an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition. 

• Be able to reflect on their own experiences and to develop a personal response to the     fundamental questions of life. 

• Make links and comparisons between faiths and different beliefs.  

• Develop investigative and research skills in order to ask questions and to make reasoned judgements about religious issues. 

Teaching and Planning 

The children at St Margaret’s undertake a balanced programme that takes account of abilities, aptitudes and physical, emotional and intellectual development. Through Religious Education, the children learn a range of skills, concepts, attitudes, techniques and methods of working. They learn to express their personal views, whilst listening to and assessing the views of others around them as they learn.  

Not only do we aim to teach R.E. as a discrete subject but we also believe that R.E. makes important contributions to other parts of the school curriculum such as personal, social, health, citizenship and economic education (RHE education), the humanities, British Values and education for sustainable development. 

Curriculum 

As a church school, St Margaret’s ensures that at least 5% of curriculum time is focussed on R.E. from EYFS to Year 6. This amounts to one hour per week in KS1 and one hour and a quarter in KS2, which is in addition to Collective Worship times. The school also ensures that 50% of this teaching time is focussed on Christianity.  

Religious Education is taught through regular lessons in each year group. As a school we use the resource ‘Understanding Christianity’ which has been developed by ‘The Church of England Education Project’. This resource aims “to help all teachers support pupils in developing their own thinking and their understanding of Christianity, as a contribution to their understanding of the world and their own experience within it” (The Church of England Education Office, 2016). We use resources developed by the Emmanuel Project to support our teaching of other faiths and worldviews. 

Within ‘Understanding Christianity’, there are two focuses that we work on. One of these is learning about Christianity itself and ‘understanding the text’. The other is digging deeper to ‘understand the impact’ of the text and ‘make connections’ between this, a Christian’s beliefs and the way in which they live their lives.  

Similarly, within the teaching of other faiths and worldviews, there are two focuses. One of these is the ‘learning about’ a religion, where children develop knowledge of the people who are important to these religions, their history, where people worship and how their beliefs affect the way they live. The other focus is ‘learning from’ a religion. This is where children are encouraged to reflect on how they can learn from other people’s beliefs and worldviews and to look for similarities between different people’s worldviews. 

Early Years 

Children in EYFS will begin to understand some of the main beliefs and practices of Christianity. It is not necessary for children to grasp the ‘big story’ of Christianity at this point, but will begin to have some understanding of the core concepts of Creation, Incarnation and Salvation. They will also begin to encounter some stories from other faiths and worldviews including Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism.  
Pupils will:  

• Know that the word God is a name. 

• Know that Christians believe God is the creator of the universe. 

• Know that Christians believe God came to Earth in human form as Jesus and that he came to show that all people are precious and special to God. 

• Begin to be able to retell some of the stories from the Bible, such as the Nativity and the Easter Story.  

Key Stage 1 

Pupils in KS1 will begin to understand some of the main beliefs and practices of Christianity. It is not necessary for pupils to grasp the ‘big story’ in great detail, but they should begin to see that most Christians see this wider ‘big story’ as very important. They should deepen their understanding of the core concepts of Creation, Incarnation, Gospel and Salvation.  

Children will use the ‘big story’ frieze which is displayed in school as a simple way into understanding the core concepts of Creation, Incarnation, Gospel and Salvation. This can be used throughout KS1 and KS2 to help pupils see how the story fits together. 

In teaching on other faiths and worldviews, pupils will learn about Judaism, Islam and Hiduism.  

Pupils will: 

• Know that God created the universe and that he has a unique relationship with human beings as their Creator. 

• Know that humans should care for the world because it belongs to God. 

• Know that Christians believe Jesus brings good news for all people, which includes being loved by God, and being forgiven for bad things. 

• Know that Christians believe Jesus’ teachings make people think hard about how to live and show them the right way. 

• Know that Christmas and Easter are very important in the ‘big story’ of the Bible. Jesus’ death especially showed that he was willing to forgive all people, even for putting him on the cross. 

• Be able to retell some of the stories from the Bible in more detail, including the Creation Story, Nativity and the Easter Story and begin to explore the Parables.  

• Know what the Torah is and why is it important to Jews. 

• Explore why Jewish families and communities believe in the importance of saying prayers, studying the Torah and doing good deeds. 

• Explore how Muslim families and communities show Allah is compassionate and merciful. 

• Explore how Hindu families and communities show devotion to a deity at the festival of Holi.   

Key Stage 2 

Pupils in KS2 will make progress in understanding some of the main beliefs and practices of Christianity. Pupils should begin to grasp the ‘big story’ and recognise its significance for ways in which many Christians understand the Bible. They should also begin to understand its importance in exploring God’s relationships with humans. Tying these concepts in with the ‘big story’ frieze, which is displayed in school, is a simple way in which it can be used throughout KS1 and KS2 to help pupils see how the story fits together. 

In teaching on other faiths and worldviews, pupils will learn about Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Humanism.  

Pupils will: 

• Widen their knowledge of different stories and Parables in the Bible and explain how some stories show God’s loving character and that He keeps His promises. 

• Know that the Bible tells a story about how humans spoiled their friendship with God 
  and that this is called ‘the Fall’. 

• Understand the Trinity and know that Christians believe the Father creates; he sends the Son who saves his people; the Son sends the Holy Spirit to his followers. 

• Understand that Christians think that Jesus sets the example of how to live a good life and that they want to follow this example.  

• Make links between the texts which Christians read and the ways in which they choose to live their lives.  

• Know that Christians try to show what they believe through actions and put his teaching and examples into practice in lots of ways, from church worship to social justice. 

• Know that Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected and returned to be with God the Father in heaven.  

• Explore what the ideas of covenant and holiness mean to Jewish families and communities. 

• Explore what the ideas of obedience, prophethood and revelation through the Qur’an mean to Muslim families and communities. 

• Explore the ideas of karma and spiritual pathways within the Hindu scriptures and the story of Rama and Sita within Hindu beliefs. 

• Explore what the ideas of enlightenment and refuge mean to Buddhist families and communities.  

• Explore the humanist worldview and why they say that happiness is the goal of life.  

Teaching and Learning 

We use a wide range of teaching and learning styles. Activities will always include whole class discussion and a mixture of small group work, paired and individual work, Oracy based discussions, drama and role play. We place an emphasis on active learning by including the children in Oracy based discussions, sorting activities and looking at and discussing photos, paintings and pictures. We offer children the opportunity to hear visiting speakers, representatives from the local church or visitors from other faith and worldviews backgrounds. Children are offered freedom in how they respond to some of the stories from the Bible through Godly Play sessions.  

Worship 

Whole school worship is carried out from Monday to Friday for 20 minutes. This time is used to bring the school together to reflect on the weeks learning, celebrate pupil achievement, share readings and stories from the Bible and other books and to discuss the Christian values, which are changed half termly. 

All worships start with a prayer and the lighting of a candle and close with a prayer linked to the daily worship and the blowing out of the candle.  

• Monday: The head teacher leads the worship in which the termly value is discussed through the use of stories, role play, pictures and Oracy paired talk. 

• Tuesday: Singing and hymn practise.  

• Wednesday: The deputy head teacher leads the worship in which topics linked to RHE are discussed through the use of stories, role play, pictures and Oracy paired talk.  

• Thursday: A member of the clergy, usually from St. Margaret’s Church, leads the worship, which is linked to our Christian values. 

• Friday: The whole school celebrates the achievements of pupils from each year group.   

Some acts of worship are held at St. Margaret’s Church during special times of the Christian year and each year group takes part in a class worship to parents and a Eucharist Service at different points throughout the year. 

 

Role of the Subject Leader  

The RE subject leader is responsible for: 

• Resources for learning 

• Keeping up to date with initiatives 

• Networking 

• Monitoring planning 

• Ensuring that there is progression and continuity in R.E. across both Key Stages 

• Supporting teachers 

• Any staff development needs relating to the teaching of religious education will be identified as part of the school improvement plan by the subject leader and or the Headteacher. 

• Disseminating material from external courses 

• Leading staff meetings and professional development days 

The Role of the Teacher  

The role of the teacher involves the following: 

• To ensure that R.E. is incorporated into their medium and short term planning 

• To discuss the children's work and make appropriate interventions to improve their skills and knowledge 

• To encourage children to share, discuss and reflect on their work with other children  

• To help children draw on skills and knowledge they have learnt in other areas of the curriculum 

• To help children assess and evaluate their own work and the work of others 

Assessment and Recording 

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning.  Its purpose is to highlight success and achievement as well as identifying areas of weakness, which can then be used to inform the planning of future work.   

There are two broad areas for assessment: 

• Children’s knowledge and understanding, e.g. retelling a Bible story, explaining what they know about a certain festival, naming the parts of a synagogue… 

• How well children can use their knowledge and understanding in developing skills and attitudes, e.g. through participating in discussions, group tasks, by making links and using their knowledge to form and justify their own beliefs and points of view. 

All lessons allow children to ask questions, explore ideas and develop deeper understanding through practical and engaging activities. All year groups use the resources which help to ensure consistency and allows for progression throughout the school.   

Assessments are completed at the end of each unit and at the end of each year. Progress and attainment in R.E. are discussed with Governors during Standards committee meetings termly.  We also assess children’s work by making informal judgements as we observe them during lessons. We mark a piece of work once it has been completed and we comment, reflecting the content and giving guidance to further develop pupils’ understanding. The assessment is used to plan, differentiate and cater lessons to the pupil's individual needs.  

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development 

Through the teaching of R.E., our children’s knowledge of Christianity and other faiths and worldviews is built up and contributes to their ability to personally reflect on their thoughts and beliefs, build resilience and respect other beliefs and points of view. These are vital skills for the children as we live in a diverse society. Most importantly, children learn to understand and value the Christian values of truth and diversity, to be able to make positive moral judgements, both now and in the future. 

1. Social and moral responsibility.  

On entry to school we will provide opportunities for children to develop self-confidence and learn socially and morally responsible behaviour both in and out of the classroom, towards those in authority and towards each other. 

2. Cultural awareness.  

Children must be encouraged to understand and value the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nature of our society and to foster positive attitudes to all people.  

 

Wider Christian Community 

There is a strong link between the school and local churches.  Members of the clergy support in school with both worship and R.E. lessons.  St. Margaret’s church is the base for the Summer club, confirmation classes, some FIISH services and church family fun days at the school.   

 

Inclusion 

At St Margaret’s School we believe every child should have the opportunity to experience success in learning and achieve as high a standard as possible. We aim to provide effective learning opportunities for all pupils in this curriculum area, and we recognise individual pupil’s learning needs. Through delivering a high quality of teaching and learning, we aim for our children to fulfil their unique potential. 

All children are unique individuals and are given every opportunity to achieve their best. We achieve this by planning to meet the needs of boys and girls, children with special educational needs, children who are more able, children with disabilities, children from all social and cultural backgrounds, different ethnic groups and diverse linguistic backgrounds. 

 

Withdrawal 

St Margaret’s is aware that some children and staff may belong to other religious denominations, other faiths or worldviews and care is taken to ensure that all staff and children, whatever their religious conviction, are made to feel comfortable with Religious Education. It is therefore hoped that few parents will choose to withdraw their children from Religious Education lessons. Parents are asked to contact the head teacher to discuss any concerns at the earliest opportunity. 

Monitoring 

The R.E. co-ordinator is responsible for monitoring the delivery of R.E. and the effectiveness of programmes used on an annual basis. The co-ordinator supports colleagues in the teaching of R.E. by giving them information about current developments in the subject and by providing a strategic lead and direction for the subject in the school through yearly action planning. 

 

Policy monitoring 

The policy will be reviewed again in Summer Term 2026 

Please click here to be taken to our Collective Worship Policy.