St. Michael's CE School
Working Together For The Good Of All
“St. Michael’s Church of England School, established upon Christian foundations and living out the Christian faith, is committed to providing every child with an excellent education.”
THE RE QUALITY MARK: GOLD
“The school was exceptionally well prepared which made the assessment process very straightforward. Staff were well informed and had a clear vision on the impact of quality RE on the whole school community.”
(REQM Assessor: March 2019)
At St. Michael’s CE School, RE forms an integral part of our school ethos and culture as it feeds into our curriculum, our policies and our daily life. The pupils at our school embrace learning in RE through the delivery of RE lessons within the class, drama and theatrical workshops, trips out and through visiting speakers talking about their faith. Through these opportunities the pupils are able to develop their understanding of RE and ask questions to deepen their own personal knowledge.
We therefore decided to work towards the REQM Assessment Award. We are delighted to announce that on March 20th 2019 we were assessed and recognised as the GOLD standard.
As a school we recognise and adhere to the REQM Principles:
“To celebrate high-quality learning in RE
To be robust, yet light touch
To focus on what learners are saying
To draw on the best, most imaginative principles of great learning in RE
To share good practice.”
As a school, we aim to ensure that:
RE has the same status as other core subjects at St. Michael’s.
Assessment of RE is rigorous and the same importance is placed upon tracking and target setting, including reporting in the mid-term and end of year reports to parents which include both effort and attainment for AT1 and AT2.
The achievement of our pupils is in line with expectation and achievement in other core subjects and in a significant percentage of children it is above.
That RE is enjoyed by the pupils and that it is a channel to enable them to thrive and succeed not only in RE but also in other subjects and has had a positive impact upon the future development as young individuals in the society in which we live.
Governor Involvement
There is an RE Link Governor who works closely with the RE Faculty and Leadership and supports the development of RE across the school as well as ‘challenging’ and ensuring progress towards the School Development Plan and Action Plan is monitored and tracked.
Inclusion and RE
At St. Michael’s we have an Inclusion Team who work supporting pupils with specific needs. This team work in partnership with the staff to ensure where possible there is access to differentiated resources for all core subjects including RE. As a result of this amazing support, our lower achieving children make very good progress in RE and achieve higher than they do in other core subjects.
Continued Professional Development (CPD)
At St. Michael’s CPD is an important factor contributing to the success of the school and is valued for all members of staff in school. who have equal opportunity to attend training. All staff are offered courses linked to both Christianity and teaching RE, as well as courses designed to develop their understanding of other faiths
Members of the Leadership and RE Faculty hold Higher Education qualifications in Religious Education, Philosophy and Theology and are instrumental in facilitating staff development and the teaching and delivery of RE across the school.
The school termly CPD programme ensures that RE is given the same prominence as other core subjects at staff meetings.
The school is rich in resources to support practical learning and understanding.
The RE Curriculum
As a school we ensure that the RE curriculum is enriched by regular off-site visits, theatre workshops as well as and visitors in to school. There are strong cross curricular links with other subjects such as art, technology, music and drama.
Links and Partnership with Other Schools
St. Michael’s is a very proactive school in terms of supporting schools beyond our community. The Leadership work closely in partnership with the local Church secondary school with whom we have a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MOU) and the Leadership Teams meets regularly to support the development of RE across the schools through workshops, visits and talks.
Furthermore, the Headteacher is a facilitator for the Local Authority Church School Cluster to work towards the REQM. Members of the RE Faculty meet with local Church school RE leads as well as Diocese RE leads to collaborate on best practise and support / share new developments and initiatives.