Religious Education
Religious Education at St. John’s Church of England School aims to help children achieve a personal awareness of God in their everyday perceptions of the natural and material world and to enable pupils to understand the nature of religious beliefs and practices and the importance of these on the lives of the believers. Reflecting the Church of England Statement of Entitlement, R.E is well organised, resourced, progressive and includes other world faiths – an effective syllabus and exciting lessons encourage reflection, next step thinking, engaging the learning needs of all pupils and developing their curiosity and sense of wonder.
From Reception through KS1 and KS2 we follow the syllabus written and devised by the London Diocesan Board for School. Our curriculum practices the key principles of RE – Theology, Philosophy and Human science. Our R.E Policy and Intent, Implementation and Impact is also underpinned by our school vision.
In recognition of the good practice in R.E and our outreach work, we received the R.E Quality Mark Award Gold in 2020 where it was expressed that 'High quality RE lies at the heart of St John's School'.
Prayer Space
We have re- launched our Prayer Space in the school library with lots of new and exciting activities. Prayer Space is a quiet space which offers pupils the opportunity to explore and reflect upon their thoughts, feelings and faith.
Prayer Space is open during lunchtimes offering a quiet and tranquil place for pupils to reflect and pray during lunchtimes should they wish. In addition to this a fortnightly Pupil’s Prayer Group is being launched in the prayer space during Tuesday lunchtimes.
Religious Education is taught weekly across the whole school in addition to daily acts of worship and weekly R.E workshops ‘JPOP’ which runs every Thursday lunchtime.
Within the syllabus we concentrate on teaching 70 percent Christianity and 30 percent other world faiths, which acknowledge the need to understand the changing culture of our local area.
'IN CLASS' WORSHIP
Every Friday afternoon all classes across the school take part in an 'In class worship' based on the worship theme of the week. The children often prepare and lead in class worship themselves reflecting on what they have learnt through whole school worship that week. This is a calm and reflective time which children are keen to take part in and enjoy participating in.
