GOLD Religious Education Quality Mark at Bishop John Robinson Primary School

RE forms an integral part of our school. It feeds into our curriculum, our policies and our daily life. Our pupils embrace learning in RE, they work tirelessly to develop their understanding and ask questions to deepen their knowledge.

Achieving the REQM has validated and celebrated the amazing commitment from all staff within school.

Bishop John Robinson Primary School has been judged as GOLD because of the excellent practice in the following areas:

RE has the same status as other core subjects in our school.

This is evident through the rigorous assessments, tracking and target setting in school, including the end of year reports to parents which include both effort and attainment for AT1 and AT2.

As a result the achievement of the majority of pupils is in line with expectation and achievement in other core subjects and in a significant percentage of children it is above.

Parents and school work well together regarding RE.

As part of the Parents as Partners meetings, our Spiritual Lead leads a session on the teaching of RE and the topics we cover in school, including Christianity and non-Christianity units. Parents are welcome to ask questions to better understand the teaching of RE.

Parents are actively encouraged to accompany pupils on regular RE visits and/or to come in to school and share their experiences and talk about their faith.

 

Governance and leadership in school is outstanding.

The school has an allocated RE link governor who works closely with the Spiritual Lead, who challenges and ensures progress towards the School Development Plan and who also supports with lesson observations and book scrutinies. All monitoring of RE is linked to the Teachers Standards.

 

RE is strong for pupils with SEN

An additional teacher has been appointed by the school to support pupils with more complex learning needs.  This teacher ensures clear accessible and differentiated resources are available for all core subjects including RE.

As a result our lower achieving children make rapid progress in RE and achieve higher than they do in other core subjects.

With this in mind the school has recently a case study to the Commission for RE regarding Accessible RE For All.

Bishop John Robinson Primary School prides itself in providing quality CPD for all staff.

CPD is valued for all members of staff in school.  Some leaders and governors hold MA qualifications in religious education and theology and disseminate knowledge with peers. All staff are offered courses linked to both Christianity and teaching RE, as well as courses designed to develop their understanding of other faiths.

The school CPD programme ensures that RE staff meetings are planned termly, in line with other core subjects.

 

The school is rich in resources to support practical learning and understanding.

• School leaders allow for additional resources to be purchased annually, resulting in the school having a wide range of artefacts and practical resources to support the learning of children.
• The RE curriculum is enriched by regular off site visits and visitors in to school. It also has close links within the curriculum and is supported by art, technology, music and drama.
• A recently new initiative is the introduction of Weekly Global Awareness collective worships. These allow pupils opportunities to look at national and global issues and to be able to respond to them, looking at the impact of people and through the values they live their lives to. They also allow for a period of reflection.

Bishop John Robinson Primary School supports learning outside of their immediate environment.

• Outside of school, Bishop John Robinson Primary School’s Spiritual Lead meets with local RE leads as well as diocese RE leads. In addition, the Headteacher sits on SACRE for both the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. He is also a Section 48 Inspector for SIAMS. 

This is what pupils at Bishop John Robinson Primary have to say about RE