We believe all are entitled to be loved; infinitely, wholly and without condition.
This is at the heart of our Methodist School ethos.
As the adults in RMS, we surround the children, and each other in the absolute love that Jesus defined as God’s love ‘for all’. It is given to each and every member of our RMS family freely and is not dependent on the recipient. It does not expect a reward, rather it flows without question.
We do not define our RMS family love as a feeling; it is evident in our thoughts, actions or deeds. It is in part, the Holy Spirit.
In Galatians 5, we’re told that love is the fruit of the Spirit. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to love others as God has loved us. In turn, we encourage our children to show the same love to each other and to go forward into the world with an abundance of love to share. In this way they will flourish.
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
In the Bible, this love ‘for all’ is defined as ‘agape’ love. Methodists are taught that a life lived with infinite love, will be a life:
“Doing all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
We follow the North Yorkshire Agreed Syllabus for our Religious Education. We aim to teach broad and balanced knowledge and understanding around our wonderfully diverse society but create deeper knowledge and cognition in the areas crucial to our RMS children’s development. We have a question-based approach within our class termly overviews. We aim to represent contrasting perspectives to enable our children to have an informed appreciation of their wider communities. In other words, to ‘love’ their neighbour and live in harmony. We also encourage children to use this knowledge to develop and refine their own sense of ‘spiritual self’.
In line with the law, Christianity comprises over 50% of our study time. Christianity is taught on a theological and conceptual basis, taking Christian accounts of the ‘big story’ of salvation and facilitating the relationship of our children to the Bible.
Our intent is to provide children with a core knowledge of ‘building blocks’ in relation to Christianity, through a Methodist lens. We use Methodist Units from the Methodist Resource. These Christian building blocks relate to other faiths and beliefs too, and parallels are made where possible.
The blocks build sequentially in small steps through each year and progress vertically through school, from EYFS to Year 6.
We have a clearly defined curriculum where we plan carefully what children should know, understand and be able to do so they are able to ‘do all the good they can’, ‘for all’.