Religious education newsletter - September 2024

It’s been a strange summer, with, on the one hand, huge sporting events raising everyone’s spirits, and, on the other, depressing lows of rioting on our streets and continuing conflict in Gaza and Sudan. In response to ugly events in Plymouth on 5 August the City Council announced that ‘we won’t let the community be divided by racists’.

One of the counterdemonstration banners read: ‘One Race = Human Race’. This emphasises the importance of human dignity, rejecting the impulse to demonise or ‘other’ those who may appear different. These events show why we need to continue to work for better RE in our schools.

The new syllabus (pdf) can be downloaded here.

Password: DevonREsyllabus2024 or PlymouthREsyllabus2024.

Book now for the follow-up course in November: Opening Up the New RE Syllabus

Religion and Worldviews: a Deep and Meaningful approach to RE

Fri 4 Oct 2024 -  St Mellion Conference Centre

Keynote: Gillian Georgiou - national expert on curriculum development, plus loads of useful RE workshops for primary, secondary and SEND. £70.  Full details here

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Learn Teach Lead RE (LTLRE, Area 1) 

LTLRE hub (twilight) meetings are free and open to all teachers of RE, primary and secondary. See LTLRE website for full details.

SWIFT SW RE hub: Thurs 7 Nov 2024

South Devon and Torbay: Thurs 14 Nov 2024

Cornwall: Thurs 21 Nov 2024

Interfaith Week 2024

Interfaith Week runs from 9 – 17 November.

For events in Exeter see Devon Faith and Belief Forum website here.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2025

The theme for HMD 2025 is: For a Better Future. Coming soon: details about Exeter events taking place on Mon 27 Jan 2025

Visitors for RE lessons

Religion and Worldviews visitors for RE lessons can be found here or on the RE Hubs site here

Primary RE subject leaders

The NATRE Primary Subject Leader toolkit, is a FREE resource for primary school RE subject leaders. Access a whole number of resources and links to support your role.

Diwali 2024

Diwali is the festival of lights, celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others. For Hindus it symbolises the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

This year’s Diwali dates: Thurs 31 Oct and Fri 1 Nov

Here are some Diwali video resources:

Diwali (EYFS, KS1) Diwali: the festival of lights (KS1, 2)

How a family celebrates Diwali (KS1, 2)

Diwali: festival of light (KS2) What is Diwali (KS2)

Diwali on Truetube (KS3)

RE for future careers

My Future. My Career. My RE. Studying RE at GCSE and A Level provides you with important life skills and offers opportunities in further education and a wide variety of careers.

This film is a short compilation from a number of contributors.

Jewish life In the UK

The Jewish Living Online site gives an introduction to Jewish life in Britain – culture, religion, history and experiences of antisemitism. It explores the diversity within the Jewish community, both in the UK and globally, with information about Jewish traditions, practices, and ways of life, and explaining the Jewish connection to the land of Israel.

Growing up Jewish

This BBC film follows four young people on the cusp of adulthood as they prepare for one of the biggest nights of their lives – their Bar and Bat Mitzvah – balancing culture, religion and the chance to party.

The world’s biggest pilgrimage

The Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq, for Shi’a Muslims, is the largest annual gathering on the planet, centred around the shrine of Imam Husayn bin Ali, the third Imam in Shia history. This year 21.5 million people attended this extraordinary and special event, many walking 80km in 48 degree heat from Najaf to Karbala, south west of Baghdad.

RE short courses for teachers

Culham St Gabriel’s short courses are an excellent way to learn more about how to teach and lead RE in your school. There are a number of free courses available on a religion and worldviews approach, curriculum planning, subject knowledge etc.

Faith and Belief stories

The Faith and Belief Forum offers a site where you can access personal stories of the lived experience of faith, belief and identity. Encounter different faith and beliefs through a bank of speaker stories, podcasts and dialogue resources.