For the classroom

What would you do to make the infant RE classroom open to big ideas and questions? The REtoday Editorial Team shares some activities that will open minds to the big stuff in RE. Here we go – which ones can you...

I must have been about 4 years old because I remember the red shoes. Once I went to school, shoes had to be a serviceable brown. I can picture my red-shod feet walking around the curved edge of a very wide pavement...

Who says small children can’t access big thoughts, ask big questions and understand big ideas? Below we present ten techniques to show your pupils that their big questions matter.

The Revd Siôr Coleman is a teacher, Chaplain and Director of Community at Baverstock Academy, South Birmingham

Chris Boxley, as well as being a member of the REtoday editorial team, is a Christian minister. He describes how his work taking funerals sharpens up questions about the meaning of life.

If you are thinking of applying for the RE Quality Mark, then you might find the tips below helpful. They are written by Katie Martin, an Oldham teacher who has taught in two schools that have achieved the RE Quality...

One year ago, our media was dominated by news on attacks on cartoonists and magazine publishers in Paris. As the anniversary of this event is noted, teachers of RE will be asked questions, again, about Islam and terror....

In 1942, C.S. Lewis, an Oxford don, published a book which was to become a classic of popular theology, The Screwtape Letters. ‘I have no intention,’ said Lewis, ‘of explaining how the correspondence which I now...

A philosophical forest Plashet School in East Ham is a state comprehensive all-girls’ secondary school. There are approximately 1,350 learners at the school, and all learners study PRE (Philosophy, Religion and Ethics)...

Our church school is named for St Michael. These activities with Year 7 students, soon after they arrive at the school, set the scene for exciting, challenging RE. They also build relationships between students and help...

In this prototype lesson we will find out about the incredibly practical work carried out by a number of religious charities around the world to alleviate suffering. These include Christian Aid, Muslim Hands and...

Corrine Guntrip, who teaches at Wolborough School in Devon, wanted her primary pupils to explore some religious ideas about creation and Bible text in increasingly mature ways. Here’s how she made it happen. I thought...

JESUSʻ TEMPTATION: A KEY NARRATIVE FOR RE The New Testament gospels tell a strange story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert, just after he was baptised. The new Lion Comic Book Hero Bible retells this story...

George and the dragon Julie Grove, REtoday editorial team member, shares ideas to enable the exploration of evil through a story for younger primary pupils. St George is the epitome of all that is good and brave in his...

Anna Fane teaches at Nettleham Junior School in Lincolnshire. Here are her reflections on RE’s use of abstract concepts with 7–11 year olds. Teaching RE is just the best thing for me as a primary teacher: it’s...

Jinny Morgan Lewtas wanted to improve her RE work for her special pupils, so she got all multisensory with the festivities of Easter. There are lessons here for other teachers, both primary and secondary, to learn. Read...

Kate Stedman is Head of RE at Bury Church of England High School. She wanted her students to think more deeply about what it means to be human in relation to all that lives.

I am someone who is passionate about animals and animal welfare and so I thoroughly enjoy teaching the lessons about animals and animal rights. I wanted to challenge my 11-year-olds to explore both their own ideas and...

Naomi Anstice is an assistant head teacher at Frodsham Manor House Primary and a NATRE Exec member. Frodsham is a town with a population of approximately 10,000, five local churches and a strong Churches Together network...

We asked some children in the infants if they thought God had favourite animals. All of them had some thoughts about this, which may be a sign of an interesting question. The answers were fascinating because the question...