Religious education & collective worship
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What Are You Looking For?
The Agreed Syllabus:
The Northumberland agreed syllabus for religious education 2022-2027 was adopted from RE Today.
It is the syllabus to be used by all community schools and is recommended for, academies and free schools. Schools that attended the launch day in June 2022 received a hard copy.
Schools that still require an electronic or hard copy should contact Dave Cookson (Lead Officer for SACRE)
An extract from the agreed syllabus is available here. Schools are welcome to add this extract to their websites.
To comply with copyright requirements the agreed syllabus licensed for use in Northumberland schools must not be distributed to schools or teachers working outside of/beyond the local authority.
Visits and Visitors
Developing Disciplinary Knowledge:
One of the key things highlighted in the Ofsted RE Review was the different types of knowledge studied in RE. The following links will support you with thinking about how to develop ‘ways of knowing’ or disciplinary knowledge in RE:
An explanation of three of the main ‘ways of knowing' in RE (theology, philosophy, human & social sciences):
Some practical advice for developing disciplinary knowledge in RE - What does it mean to ‘get better’ at the ways of knowing in RE?
Non-religious worldviews:
Collective worship
Collective worship remains a statutory requirement in most state-funded schools, although the rules vary depending on the type of school.
Community, foundation and voluntary schools without a religious designation must:
- Provide an act of collective worship every school day for all registered pupils.
- Ensure that the worship is "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character."
- Make the worship appropriate to the pupils' ages, aptitudes and family backgrounds.
Collective worship often takes place during an assembly, but they are not the same thing. To count as the statutory act of collective worship, there must also be a distinct element of worship or reverence. A purely informational assembly does not satisfy the legal requirement.
SACRE produced a collective worship policy in 2021 which gives guidance as to what constitues high quality collective worship. You can find the policy here.
The documents below have been prepared by Northumberland teachers for use in their schools. You are welcome to use them as a starting point for your collective worship planning.
RE network meetings:
Network meetings will take place in 2026 - 27 each term and are suitable for all phases/ages.
The meetings are hosted by Caroline Weir (Northumberland LA RE consultant), and are free to all schools.
There will be updates from the wider RE world, resource sharing, support with implementing the NCC RE syllabus, time to meet with others leading RE in their schools, and space to ask RE questions.
All attendees will receive the Zoom link prior to the meeting, so please keep an eye on your inbox.
Training:
On demand subject knowledge sessions:
You will be able to watch when and as many times as you wish over the academic year so these sessions are suitable for PPA, staff meetings, alliance inset meetings etc.
The following are available (all cover EYFS-KS3):
- Muslim worldviews (59 minutes) -from EYFS to KS3 – subject knowledge, planning ideas, resource links - book here
- Jewish worldviews (72 minutes) - from EYFS to KS3 – subject knowledge, planning ideas, resource links - book here
- Hindu worldviews (64 minutes) - from EYFS to KS3 – subject knowledge, planning ideas, resource links - book here
- Sikh worldviews (73 minutes) - from EYFS to KS3 – subject knowledge, planning ideas, resource links. With a focus on the KS3 unit in the Northumberland Agreed Syllabus - book here
- Understanding Christianity refresher (90 minutes) - A reminder (or introduction) for schools already using the Understanding Christianity resource) - book here
Simply click on the link; you will receive an auto response email with a password which you use to access the video. If any materials or links are needed during the training, these will be sent with the password or will be accessible underneath the video itself to click on. Once you complete the online evaluation form they can get a .pdf of the slides.
Keep up to date
Complete the form on the right and receive emails from Caz (RE Consultant) about forthcoming CPD, events and resources.