St Giles' Centre

Shared Tables, Shared Values: Exploring Food and Belonging

What can food teach us about belonging, identity and the values we share?
‘Shared Tables, Shared Values: Exploring Food and Belonging’ is a new bilingual resource for schools, created by members of Wrexham Standing Advisory Council (SAC) on Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE).

Food can be a powerful way of exploring community, generosity, culture and shared values. It can connect us with families and communities, religious and non-religious traditions, places and celebrations, while also raising important questions about identity, diversity, equality, responsibility and our relationships with others.

The new resource has been designed to inspire schools to explore these connections through RVE, relating the theme of food and belonging to their own learners and their contexts.

The pack offers a wealth of ideas and practical suggestions, including:

ways of making food and belonging relevant to a school’s local context and learners;
example curriculum links and ideas;
suggested enquiry questions and exemplar activities;
opportunities to explore food in the Bible and in other religious and non-religious texts;
connections with other disciplines within the Humanities; and
links with other Areas of Learning and Experience.

It is hoped that schools will draw inspiration and ideas from this resource to help learners encounter and explore RVE concepts such as belonging, celebration, community, culture, cynefin, diversity, equality, identity, interconnectedness, relationships, responsibility and values.

Alongside its RVE curriculum material, the resource also offers opportunities to support schools in planning for statutory collective worship.

‘Shared Tables, Shared Values’ offers a rich collection of ideas from which schools can select and develop approaches that are most meaningful for their own learners, communities and priorities.

The bilingual resource pack has been emailed to all Wrexham schools. If you have not received a copy, contact clerktosac.rve@wrexham.gov.uk.

Human Rights and RVE

The September issue of Religion, Values and Ethics e-magazine has been published on Hwb. In this issue, there are three short articles exploring key questions and issues of relevance relevant to human rights and RVE, including:

Imagine life without rights … What would change?
Racial, religious, cultural and national identity
Should people be free to believe whatever they want?

What is included in the e-magazine?

Each bilingual issue of the e-magazine provides:

three short, accessible articles linked to Religion, Values and Ethics in the Curriculum for Wales;
a clear thematic focus to support meaningful learner engagement;
teacher notes with suggested activities to deepen discussion and understanding.

Relevance for Wrexham schools

This resource offers practical classroom support for secondary teachers across Wrexham, helping to:

develop learners’ understanding of contemporary ethical and religious issues;
support teaching of RVE within the Curriculum for Wales;
provide ready-to-use materials that can be adapted for different learning contexts.

It is also useful for primary teachers who want to develop their subject expertise.

Local expertise

Three local RVE specialists are now contributing to the e-magazine:

Libby Jones as subject specialist and adviser
Tania ap Sion as Editor
Neera Vyas as contributing author

Their involvement helps ensure that the content is supportive and relevant to the needs of secondary schools and teachers in Wrexham.

Bringing the Bible to Life: a new bilingual RVE resource for Wrexham schools

An exciting new bilingual resource for primary schools has recently been shared with all schools across Wrexham, supporting high-quality Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) through engagement with Bible stories.

‘Bringing the Bible to Life’ grew out of a collaboration among practitioners from three diverse Wrexham schools: a Voluntary Aided Church in Wales school, a Voluntary Controlled Church in Wales school and a community school. Working together, the practitioners explored how Bible stories could be brought to life in the RVE classroom, enabling learners to engage with the stories, the values they explore and the questions they raise.

Taking a values-driven approach, the resource supports the realisation of the Four Purposes of Curriculum for Wales, helping learners make meaningful connections between biblical teachings, contemporary life and their own experiences.

‘Bringing the Bible to Life’ has been funded by the St Mary’s College Trust, with subject specialist support from the St Giles’ Centre.

If your school has not yet received a copy, please contact your headteacher, who should already have received the resource by email. Alternatively, contact us at the St Giles’ Centre.

Exploring AI Ethics

The June issue of Religion, Values and Ethics e-magazine has been published on Hwb. In this issue, there are three short articles exploring key questions relevant to AI Ethics, including:

Navigating Artificial Intelligence and misinformation: How do we know what’s true?
Can a robot be your spiritual guide?
How use of AI may impact natural and human environments.

What is included in the e-magazine?

Each issue of the 2026 revamped e-magazine provides:

three short, accessible articles linked to Religion, Values and Ethics in the Curriculum for Wales;
a clear thematic focus to support meaningful learner engagement;
teacher notes with suggested activities to deepen discussion and understanding.

Relevance for Wrexham schools

This resource offers practical classroom support for secondary teachers across Wrexham, helping to:

develop learners’ understanding of contemporary ethical and religious issues;
support teaching of RVE within the Curriculum for Wales;
provide ready-to-use materials that can be adapted for different learning contexts.

It is also useful for primary teachers who want to develop their subject expertise.

Local expertise

Three local RVE specialists are now contributing to the e-magazine:

Libby Jones as subject specialist and adviser
Tania ap Sion as Editor
Neera Vyas as contributing author

Their involvement helps ensure that the content is supportive and relevant to the needs of secondary schools and teachers in Wrexham.

Wrexham Primary RVE Network meeting

At our summer Wrexham Primary RVE Network meeting, we will be looking more closely at using AI Agents to plan meaningful RVE.

This will build on the enthusiasm of colleagues at our Spring meeting who wanted to explore this area further, collaboratively. The meeting will be face to face in the RVE Resources Room at Ysgol Clywedog.

Date: Wednesday, 1 July
Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm
Location: RVE Resources Room, Ysgol Clywedog, 17 Ruthin Rd, LL13 7UB

Please bring your laptop or iPad.

Selected key findings of Teachers’ Voice Survey on Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE)

Teachers’ Voice Survey RVE Key Survey Results

Selected key findings from the Teachers’ Voice Survey on Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) can now be watched on a ‘voice-over’ PowerPoint published here.

The official Project Report is coming soon, and it will be available on the Project page and Publication page of this website.

Why is the survey important for Wrexham schools?

The survey provided Wrexham teachers, including those working in Church schools, with a structured way to share their professional experiences of RVE within the Curriculum for Wales.

These local perspectives will help to inform future professional learning, curriculum resources, and research activity that is responsive to the distinct contexts of Wrexham schools.

By situating Wrexham teachers’ experiences within a broader national picture, the research also strengthens understanding of both shared challenges and local distinctiveness.

Thank you to all Wrexham teachers who took part in the survey!

We look forward to sharing the official Project Report with the full survey findings soon.

New ‘look’ RVE e-Magazine published for 2026

We are pleased to highlight the publication on Hwb of the recently redesigned Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) e-Magazine for 2026.

The bilingual online magazine is published termly and has been refreshed with a new, more accessible design. The first issue in this updated format has now been released, with a focus on the theme of Relationships.

What’s in the latest issue?

The current issue includes three articles on:

Families in Cymru;
Global neighbours: living together with difference;
The role of women in the family.

Each issue provides:

three short, accessible articles linked to Religion, Values and Ethics in the Curriculum for Wales;
a clear thematic focus to support meaningful learner engagement;
teacher notes with suggested activities to deepen discussion and understanding.

Relevance for Wrexham schools

This resource offers practical classroom support for secondary teachers across Wrexham, helping to:

develop learners’ understanding of contemporary ethical and religious issues;
support teaching of RVE within the Curriculum for Wales;
provide ready-to-use materials that can be adapted for different learning contexts.

Local expertise

It is particularly encouraging to see strong representation from Wrexham in the development of the magazine. Three local RVE specialists are contributing to the e-magazine:

Libby Jones as subject specialist and adviser
Tania ap Sion as Editor
Neera Vyas as contributing author

Their involvement helps ensure that the content is supportive and relevant to the needs of secondary schools and teachers in Wrexham.

New Resources Room now open

The St  Giles’ Centre is pleased to announce the opening of our new Resources Room.

The Resources Room is now conveniently based at Ysgol Clywedog, Ruthin Road, Wrexham (LL13 7UB), in School Improvement Room 1, providing easy access for practitioners across the local authority.

The Room houses hundreds of high‑quality resources designed to support teaching and learning in RVE and related disciplines. There is also attractive working space available alongside the resources.

Resources are available for all age groups and cover a broad range of religions and key RVE themes. The collection includes:

artefact boxes
toys and games
story books
textbooks
reference books
posters

To discuss your resource needs or to arrange borrowing, please contact Libby Jones. Resources are typically loaned on a half‑termly or termly basis, subject to demand.

Supporting teachers with progression in RVE

“Love the skills progression steps.”

“The fantastic continuum. It has saved me a job!”

“The whole day was very helpful and informative. Particularly: priorities for progression; planning mat for RVE; input from colleagues about the document ‘What does progression look like’; discussions.”

These are just a few of the comments about the recent St Giles’ Centre training day held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on 3 July. The day brought together primary school teachers from VA, VC and community schools, special school teachers, and ITE attendees from Wrexham University for professional learning and dialogue about Progression in RVE.

One of the highlights of the day was when Nia Williams from St Mary’s VA school, Overton shared with the group learners’ work created as part of the St Giles’ Centre Collaborative RVE project: supporting planning and progression in Wrexham primary schools. Using the St Giles’ Centre storybook resource, Randalph’s spiritual quest and search for meaning (Caring for Nature) as a stimulus, Nia talked through what progression looks like in her learners’ work and the importance of planning effectively using the St Giles’ Centre example Planning MAT template.

The group also had an opportunity to work through the recently published collaborative resource: Planning for Progression in RVE age 3-16: an example to support practitioners (St Giles’ Centre, 2024), which includes an example for pre-progression step 1.

The St Giles’ Centre is very grateful for all the inspirational contributions by those attending the day!

What role should religious education play in addressing social concern issues?

So, what role should ‘religious education’ play in addressing areas of social concern?

A recently published research article about how the social unrest of 2020/21 affects the teaching of religious education provides a stimulus for professional dialogue on the bigger question of what role/s religious education should play in addressing areas of social concern.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought various issues such as social cohesion, social inequalities, climate change and racism to the forefront. Religious education teachers across Europe were confronted with questions as to how and if they respond to such issues in their teaching. On this basis, the research article, published in the Journal of Beliefs & Values, investigates the question ‘How do sixteen religious education specialists see the effects of social issues on religious education in a challenging time?’, making use of the data from a 2022 European qualitative study, which explored what Covid-19 reveals to religious education specialists about their subject.

Research findings show the religious education specialists, from sixteen European countries including Wales, reflecting on the relationships between social issues and religious education in terms of both relevance and caution.

As well as detailing the kinds of social concerns being raised in religious education during the Covid-19 pandemic, the religious education specialists’ responses illustrated three emerging themes related to:

a concern for aspects of learners’ wellbeing and pastoral care arising in the context of religious education and the social issues experienced;
an interest in the development of specific competencies, skills and values in religious education in response to the social issues being raised;
a focus on what social unrest issues mean for religious education curricula / teaching programmes and classroom learning approaches.

Although many of the religious education specialists could see the real value of social unrest issues in religious education, there were also some explicit cautions and hesitancy about potential adverse effects on the subject (for example, a potential imbalance in religious education curricula with an over-focus on such issues and the need to ensure that a religious education subject lens is being used to avoid generic teaching and learning).

Article reference:

ap Siôn, T., Cullen, S., Danner, S., Kappelhoff, B., & Kodácsy-Simon, E. (2024). How does the social unrest of 2020/21 affect the teaching of Religious Education? Findings of a European study on the effects of the COVID-19 period. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2024.2409545

For more information:

Contact us at the St Giles’ Centre if you want more information about this research project and the findings.
This research is part of the What Covid Reveals to RE Specialists project.