Religious Education is being taught through teaching the Birmingham syllabus ‘Faith Makes a Difference’ which is supported by Understanding Christianity Units. These have been produced 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. It aims to see pupils leave school with a coherent understanding of Christian belief and practice. Pupils from 4-11 explore the significant theological concepts within Christianity as part of developing their wider religious, theological and cultural literacy. It seeks to support teachers in developing their own knowledge and understanding of Christianity theology to be able to teach with confidence.
Everyone who belongs to St George’s Church of England Primary School has decided upon the ‘High Five’ core Christian values that underpin our school’s ethos and distinctiveness as a Church of England School serving a multi-faith and diverse community. Jesus’ teaching of respect for God, ourselves and each other underpins everything that we do. We raise pupil awareness with a loving and caring attitude to the fundamentals of some of the major world religions. In doing so we have an opportunity to contribute positively to the development of a society where faith helps individuals to understand one another.
In the words of Archbishop Runcie:
“A church school nourishes Christians in their faith, encourages those of other faiths and challenges those with no faith.”
All Christian celebrations are shared in daily worship – Harvest, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity. The welcome words spoken during the lighting of the candles are Trinitarian and link the theme of worship directly to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We celebrate with children of other faiths the commonality of joyous occasions, religions and the heritage of our pupils Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Ahda, Holi, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year and Vaisakhi.