A faith-based schools charity in Newham is working with children to help them discover what it means to be Christian in the modern world.

Faith in Schools visits primary and secondary schools with Christians to deliver high-quality Religious Education lessons that conform to the Newham Agreed Syllabus.

This gives pupils the chance to meet Christians from different backgrounds and denominations.

The charity has been working in Newham schools since 2003 as a team of two or three people led by an experienced teacher.

Alice Probert, primary team leader, said: “Our vision is for every child and young person in Newham to have the opportunity in their RE lessons to meet local Christians and to discover what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century.

“We work towards this by taking small teams from different churches and cultural backgrounds into 22 schools to support their RE teaching.

“We believe our work offers children, staff and volunteers from diverse faith backgrounds the chance to develop both personal understanding as well as community links.”

She added: “We think our story offers a chance for people to see community resilience being built through real interaction – one hour at a time!”

For more details visit faithinschools.co.uk/news.

Ms Probert said schools are legally required by law to teach Religious Education to children from age four to 16 for at least 50 minutes a week, and that Christianity should take up 50 per cent of this time for each age group.

Earlier this month, copies of the Young Atheist Handbook by Alom Shaha were sent to Newham secondary schools as part of a national campaign by the British Humanist Association to present a non-religous perspective to children.

What do you think of Religious Education and religion in schools in Newham? Write to adam.barnett@archant.co.uk or call 0208 477 3886.