Religious Education

Religious Education (RE) at Belmont promotes the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our children.  Through our school ethos and classroom teaching we aim to develop respectful attitudes towards others including people with different faiths and beliefs. Like many London schools, our community is diverse and we welcome children from a wide range of backgrounds.  RE, alongside PSHE, encourages positive interfaith relations and addresses prejudice on the basis of religion and belief. 

All state-funded schools must teach religious education (RE). Maintained schools without a religious character should follow their locally agreed syllabus. 

As a community school we follow the Agreed Syllabus for the London Borough of Haringey: Awareness, Mystery, Value (Awareness Mystery Value )

At Belmont Junior School we have adopted the Haringey Educational Partnership (HEP) Humanities Curriculum including in Religious Education. In studying religions through multiple disciplines, pupils:

• Learn about and learn from the different kinds of question human beings can ask about religious origins, beliefs and practices, namely questions that derive from philosophy, theology, social sciences and history. For example, when studying a particular religion in a particular place, asking the following different kinds of question: what are the big ideas that this religious community’s stories reflect (e.g. dharma); how are these ideas expressed in other stories and in diverse religious practices across time and space?

Our teaching of Religious Education children allows children to explore and develop an understanding of what religion is.  They learn about major world faiths, including Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Children learn what different religions believe about God, prayer, belonging, celebrations and sacred texts.

The parent / carer of a pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school or academy has the right to request that their child be excused from all or part of the RE provided. Where a pupil has been withdrawn, the law provides for alternative arrangements to be made for RE of the kind the parent wants the pupil to receive (Section 71(3) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998).