NATRE Projects
Website Links
16-19 for all - dare2engage
Developing Good Assessment Practice
Listening to Children Talking
Spirited Arts
Current Activity
Project funding to develop RE
During 2008 NATRE is making available four funded opportunities for local groups to develop curriculum materials and resources for RE. Each grant is worth up to £1,500, due to generous funding by the St Gabriels' Programme. A further four grants will become available in 2008/9.
Secondary Teacher Network Project
NATRE working alongside AREIAC and ‘Advisers in Education' won a tender from the TDA to pilot the delivery of CPD through secondary teacher network groups. This project will involve the 9 North and East London Local authorities, 6 advisers and 18 teachers. The focus aims to develop teachers' understanding and skills in assessment with a focus on Education Outside the Classroom.
Exemplification of standards at key stage 3
NATRE won the tender to lead the RE element of QCA's new exemplification of standards project. The project will last for 18 months and involves 8 schools and 16 teachers. The project aims to assist teachers in their planning for the introduction of the changes to the new secondary curriculum, by developing electronic ‘portfolios' of individual pupils' work, with annotations and commentaries, to robustly exemplify standards at levels 4 to 8.
Training for ITT students
The Hockerill Foundation is supporting four ITT conferences inManchester, London, warwick and Sheffield during 2007/8. We are grateful to the Foundation for its generous support.
Conferences for NATRE local group leaders
In the spring and summer terms 2008 NATRE is providing four one-day conferences for NATRE local group leaders. Each conference will be held in a place of religious significance, and provide a range of professional development opportunities for teachers. The conferences are free, due to generous grant funding by the St Gabriels' Programme. A further four conferences will be held in 2008/9.
RE and the new secondary curriculum
NATRE and RE Today are working with CfBT in 2007/8 to deliver the roll out of the new secondary curriculum for RE on behalf of the DCSF. News and updates are available on this website, and also on http://www.cfbt.com/.
Newsletters to support NATRE local groups
During 2007 NATRE began a termly initiative to provide support for NATRE-affiliated local groups via an email newsletter. This development was made possible by generous grant funding from the BFSS.
Support for RE and ICT
During 2007/8 NATRE and RE Today have continued to work with Becta on a range of initiatives to support the use of ICT in RE. Current work involves provision of ITT opportunities for secondary ITT students and ITT tutors, and development of a resource to support the use of ICT in GCSE Religious Studies.
Local groups
We have 120+ local groups for teachers of RE all over the country, giving us links to more than 1000 teachers. During 2007 and 2008 we are running a project to provide additional support to our local groups. Our new website includes an online facility for group leaders to update their group's details, and for teachers trying to find their nearest local group to search.
REsource
NATRE's 24-page termly journal, which provides professional reflection on the theory and practice of RE. Circulation is 2500, edited by Dr Bill Gent, School Improvement Adviser, London Borough of Redbridge Advisory Service.
Spirited Arts Competition 2007
2007's Spirited Arts competition had four new themes. For details of the winners see: www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts.
Spirited Poetry Competition
We ran, through RE Today, a 'Spirited Poetry' competition, to coincide with National Poetry Day in November 2005, generously supported by the St Peter's Saltley Trust. The ‘Spirited Poetry' competition has also produced a fine result in the book of 100 pupils' poems on spiritual themes that RMEP published. This is now available through RE Today with a disc of supporting teacher materials and twelve classroom ideas for using poetry in RE (and in collective worship).
‘Listening to children and young people talking'
Our online database of pupils' religious and spiritual thinking continues to provide a significant classroom resource. It is interactive, multi-religious, and fully moderated. See: www.natre.org.uk/db.
ICT
During 2007 we ran a small podcasting project in 10 schools (primary and secondary). The resulting podcasts are available to members via our website, and cover a range of issues related to the six strands of the National Framework.
Downloads
The members section of the NATRE website includes access to a wide range of downloadable materials, accessible by a simple search mechanism. Some documents are freely available to all who access the site, whether or not they are currently members.
National RE news
We support a national RE news service through the NATRE news pages of 'REtoday' termly subscription magazine.
RE Council
We maintain links with the RE Council, and its membership of nearly 50 bodies concerned with RE nationally, including major faith community groups from 7 different religions and the British Humanist Association. See: www.religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk.
Dare to Engage
Our involvement with this collaborative project to assist and work with Christian teachers and church workers in developing the offer of spiritual education to the 16-19 age group continues. ‘Spiritual engagement', a resource designed to provide ‘all you need to plan, prepare and run sixth form RE days' was published by RE Today in 2007. Supported by the generosity of the Jerusalem Trust. See: dare2engage.org.
