Religious education

Religious Education contributes dynamically to children experiences in our school, provoking challenging questions about human life, beliefs, communities and ideas. In RE lessons and assemblies, pupils learn from religions and world views about different ways of life in local, national and global contexts. Our pupils are given opportunities to discover, explore and consider many different answers to questions about human identity, meaning and value. They learn to decide for themselves the value of wisdom from different communities, to disagree respectfully, to be reasonable in their responses to religions and world views and to respond by expressing insights into their own and others’ lives.

The school adopts the local Rotherham syllabus as agreed by the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) 2022.

Parental right of withdrawal

This was first granted in 1944 when curricular RE was called ‘Religious Instruction’ and carried with it connotations of induction into the Christian faith. RE is very different now – open, broad and exploring a range of religious and non-religious worldviews. In the UK, parents still have the right to withdraw their children from RE on the grounds that they wish to provide their own RE. This provision will be the parents’ responsibility.6 This right of withdrawal exists for all pupils in all types of school, including schools with and without a religious designation. Parents have the right to withdraw their child from part of RE, and can do so without giving any explanation. 

Should you wish to discuss this, please contact us through enquiries@kps.wwpat.org.