The school curriculum provides opportunities for people in the school community to learn from each other about the importance of religious faith in the life of a believer. Schools can help to foster this through encouraging respect for each individual, their beliefs and their cultures. Creating space for healthy dialogue, particularly in RE, can make a very valuable contribution to pupils' personal development.
These opportunities can arise at any time in school e.g. through an RE lesson, or in collective worship, during an extra-curricular activity or simply just in conversation. The resulting conversation can be incredibly rewarding; pupils from different faiths and cultures often understand the concept of religion being central to a person's life better than those brought up in the UK and who are Christian by default. They will understand talk about God being all important in a believer's life and how that affects every area of their life.
Pupils and staff who are humanists or secularists, with no religious belief of their own, usually have much less understanding of the importance of faith to a religious believer, regardless of their religion. Encouraging all pupils to explore their own faith position, and to understand their neighbour, will make a vital contribution to community cohesion in your school and local community.