Our school follows the LA RE syllabus (RE today) and this is supplemented with elements from the Blackburn Diocesan syllabus Questful RE, alongside some units from Understanding Christianity, due to our school being 1 ½ form entry. This format was chosen with involvement of our Governors in consultation with the Headteacher and with guidance from the Diocese and support from Liverpool SACRE. The syllabus supports our commitment to offering a rich, inclusive RE curriculum that nurtures spiritual development and encourages personal reflection. 

We are an inclusive school and teach about tolerance, celebrating differences and welcoming all, in a community of respect, nurture and support. RE provides opportunities for spiritual development and personal reflection. We give our children opportunities to discuss topics, reflect on the impact religion has on others in their community, the wider world and themselves. Pupils will experience, explore and encounter a wide range of creative and challenging multi-sensory activities that will help them to explore fundamental questions.

We use our strong links with St Cleopas Church and visits to other places of worship to enrich our children’s religious education. Our Vicar, Sian, is a school governor and regular visitor to school. She enriches and brings learning in RE to life, holding services and sharing in God’s work.

Children regularly engage in religious events. We regularly support at community events and throughout the year visits to the Cathedral and other places of worship take place.  We also attend St Cleopas Church as well as celebrating Christian festivals with special services.

Please see the RE Overview document attached for more details of the curriculum coverage and progression.

Across our RE curriculum we use Understanding Christianity as a resource to support children’s understanding of Christianity and the Bible. The big Frieze is used to depict the stories from The Bible and follow the journey of our learning in RE.

Godly Play 

At St Cleopas we are blessed to have a full collection of Godly Play resources. We use Godly Play to engage and develop children’s spirituality. Godly Play begins with children’s innate sense of the presence of God and offers Christian language as a support for their ongoing spiritual formation. Mrs Berry is a fully trained practitioner and delivers sessions to every class across the school throughout the year (see RE Syllabus Overview).

Godly Play and its underlying principles offer a different way of being with children that can help nurture their spirituality in all aspects of school life. Godly Play values process rather than product, multi-modality learning, open questions and space for discovery, meaning-making and self-directed activity. It teaches a process that aims to promote an inner working model for life-long Christian learning.