Religious Education

'Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.' (James 3:13) 

At St James Primary School, our teaching of Religious Education aims to engage, inspire, challenge and encourage pupils. It offers opportunities to actively engage with our school vision and what this looks like in our day to day lives. We want to equip children with the knowledge and skills to answer challenging questions, explore different religious beliefs, values and traditions and develop a more rigorous understanding of the numerous religious traditions, beliefs and practices that are followed in our multi-cultural society. We aim to promote empathy and understanding of other religious beliefs through our Christian values of kindness, wisdom, respect, perseverance and joy.

Our school has a strong Christian ethos and close links to St James Church in Muswell Hill. We actively support those children who are Christians to grow in faith and develop their knowledge of the Bible and Christian teaching. We follow the LDBS (London Diocesan Board for Schools) scheme of work, exploring the stories and themes of the Old and New Testaments and core Christian values such as justice and forgiveness. As part of the National Curriculum we also teach children about world faiths and perspectives.

Worship is part of our school life. We have daily acts of collective worship where children are encouraged to participate; once a week, staff from St James Church come into school to teach the children at this time when we come together as a school. The whole school also attends St James’ Church once or twice a term for special services at Harvest Festival and Easter. At Christmas the Key Stage 1 children perform a nativity play.