As a Church school and as part of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education (SDBE), we believe that 'Religious Education is not just an academic subject, but, lies at the very heart of the curriculum and has an important role in reflecting and conveying the distinctively Christian character of the school' (SDBE)

At Roehampton Church Forest School (RCFS) we have taken the SDBE's RE syllabus and schemes of work and have adapted it to incorporate, not only our school and church ethos, but also that of our forest school. The syllabus is sequenced through systematic units, focused on one religion, and thematic units which build on learning by comparing the religions, beliefs and practices. The syllabus comprises teaching units for the teaching of Christianity at Reception, Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2) and the study of other principal world religions and world views in KS1 and KS2.
Pupils encounter core concepts of religion and belief in a coherent way, developing their understanding and their ability to handle questions of religion and belief. The teaching and learning approach also has three disciplinary lenses or ‘ways of knowing’ (believing, thinking, living), which are woven together as golden threads to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religion and belief, underpinning the aims of RE. Believing - relating to theological approaches; Thinking - relating to more philosophical approaches; and Living - the sociological approaches. Teaching and learning in the classroom encompasses all three elements, allowing for overlap between elements as it suits the religion, concept and question being explored. These elements set the context for open exploration of religion and belief. They offer a structure through which pupils can encounter diverse religious traditions alongside non-religious world views. The elements present a broad and flexible strategy allowing for different traditions to be treated with integrity. They also offer a route through each unit while allowing for a range of questioning to reflect different approaches; for example, from religious studies, philosophy, sociology, ethics and theology.