The families and children of St David’s School reflect the multi-faith society in which we live, and therefore we regard the teaching of Religious Education as playing a central role in preparing our pupils to interact and live harmoniously alongside others within this society – respecting other peoples’ views and understanding how different religious beliefs are demonstrated in people’s lifestyles.

St David’s has strong links with St Marks Church in Purley and more than half of our RE syllabus is based on the Christian faith. However, within Key Stage 2 the children also learn about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. We want the children to develop their knowledge and understanding of other people’s cultures and religions – in other words ‘to know what people do and understand why they do it’. While studying the six major world religions the children learn about different aspects such as places of worship, special books, festivals, rites of passage, founders and leaders, worship, clothes, stories, symbolism, special days, and food as well as looking at artefacts and their meanings.

The aim of Religious Education at St David’s is not just to learn about different religions, but also to learn from religion and human experience. All religions provide their followers with a way of life and a way of facing life’s basic questions. Therefore within our RE lessons (and assemblies) the children are encouraged to explore and reflect upon human experience, and to consider their own personal beliefs and responses to questions relating to the meaning, purpose and value of life.