Avanti School’s Philosophy, Religion & Ethics Curriculum

Introduction

Avanti schools share the same distinctive ethos, founded on three pillars: educational excellence, character formation and spiritual insight. Our curriculum is developed to include a Philosophy, Religion & Ethics (PRE) course, which although taught discretely, is intended to inform all learning throughout pupils’ and students’ time at school. The PRE course is focused on developing seven key values. Humility is the overarching value and unifies the others, which are: empathy, courage, respect, self-discipline, gratitude and integrity. Each value is covered over each one of the 6 academic terms, repeating year on year to extend pupils’ and students’ understanding to show progress over time (e.g. Autumn 1 focus is Empathy).

Included in each term is a focus festival day that unifies the values and character qualities we intend to develop. These are special celebratory days, involving planned lessons, performing arts and opportunities to perform publically. The overview identifies expectations for significant milestones throughout the school career (roughly based on 2 years e.g. end of Year 2, end of Year 4 etc). Yoga, meditation and mindfulness and RE lessons contribute to the holistic education of pupils and students and are linked with the PRE course. 

Summary:

  • Weekly/twice weekly sessions lasting 45 minutes (2 sessions in secondary school)
  • One value covered each term
  • Linked with yoga, meditation and mindful lessons
  • Linked with RE
  • Celebration festival days each term
  • Assessed termly against Expected Outcomes

Yearly Festival Overview

Through our teaching of a variety of festivals, we awaken the child’s natural reverence. Our curriculum allows children to develop respect for the spiritual essence that exists in us all and is an opportunity to participate as a whole.

  Autumn 1 Autumn 2 Spring 1 Spring 2 Summer 1 Summer 2
Value Empathy Self-Discipline Respect Integrity Courage Gratitude
Festivals Diwali

Eid-Al-Fitr

Rosh Hashanah

Advent/Christmas

Hannukah

Harvest

Easter

Lunar New Year Guru Gobin Singh

Holi

Passover

Ramadan

Guru Nanak

Buddha Day Rathayatra

Birth of  Haile Selassie

Hajj