Religious Education (RE)

Intent

At St. John’s C of E Primary School, the aim of Religious Education is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain. We aim to understand the way that religious beliefs shape our lives and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance our spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

It is our intent for the Religious Education curriculum to be equally ambitious for every child in order to engage, inspire, challenge and encourage pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to answer challenging questions, explore different religious beliefs, values and traditions and develop understanding of the numerous religious traditions, beliefs and practices that are followed in our multi- cultural society.

At St. John’s, Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school. As a Church of England school, Religious Education plays an important role, along with other curriculum areas, particularly PSHE and the teaching of British Values, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children. It promotes respect, tolerance and open-mindedness towards others with different faiths and beliefs and encourages pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging through self- awareness and reflection.

All of our children will have the opportunity to study RE through different lenses, such as psychology, philosophy, sociology and theology to find out about people’s differing worldviews. This will enable our children to find out about what different people believe and how this makes a difference to how they live.

Implementation

Religious Education is a statutory subject of the curriculum for all pupils in each year group and ‘should be provided for all registered pupils except those withdrawn at the request of their parents.’ We ensure that we comply with the legal requirements by following the Wiltshire agreed syllabus for Religious Education.

It has been agreed that having considered the requirements and guidelines presented in the Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus, the following religions have been selected for study: Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. As Christianity is the main faith, 50% of the RE teaching time is dedicated to this area. Through the units which teach and compare all religions and faith, children also learn about Buddhist and Sikh views and non-religious views of Humanism.

Our RE curriculum is successfully adapted, designed and developed for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities by the teacher as necessary. It is a curriculum that is broad, balanced and inclusive for all pupils.

We use RE Today resources to support our syllabus. This is a substantial resource to support our teaching of RE. This helps us to develop pupils’ understanding of the different world views, giving opportunities to compare and contrast them to develop their understanding about how our beliefs, faith and values guide is in our daily choices. As a church school, we aim to see pupils leave school with a coherent understanding of religious beliefs and practices, with a strong focus on Christianity.

Religious Education is taught as a discrete subject on a weekly basis, but is sometimes delivered through a class or whole school RE day. As a church school, we believe that RE is a core subject and is taught by the class teacher as it is important that the whole school community values it as such. The curriculum has been developed to ensure progression in knowledge, skills and vocabulary whilst also contributing to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This is a spiral curriculum, meaning concepts are re-visited throughout each child’s time at St. John’s. This ensures key knowledge is deepened.

RE units will begin with a key question, with lessons sequenced using small steps of learning. Links are made to show where this fits with religious learning already covered. Prior learning is recapped and revisit through planned retrieval tasks designed to ensure that children remember more. There will also sometimes be some historical, cultural, geographical or art links which are identified and help to show children how and where religions can influence society. Particular links are drawn to British Values. At the end of each unit, children relate the big question to an assessment task where they reflect on what they have learnt.

Children are provided with experiences and enrichment opportunities including:

• handling artefacts
• exploring scared texts
• using imaginative play or drama to express feelings and ideas
• responding to images, games, stories, art, music and dance
• meeting visitors from local religious communities
• making visits to religious places of worship where possible
• taking part in whole school events- (multi-faith days, Harvest Festival, school performances)
• participating in moments of quiet reflection
• participating in Open the Book assemblies
• using ICT to further explore religion and belief globally
• comparing religions and worldviews through discussion
• debating and communicating religious belief, worldviews and philosophical ideas and answering and asking ultimate questions posed by these.

There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds, and beliefs and values of the children and the staff. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community.

Impact

The children at St. John’s enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose, or choose not, to follow a religion. Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world.

Through R.E., our children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life and worship, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community. At St. John’s, our children develop their skills of enquiry and response through the use of religious vocabulary, questioning and empathy; skills of reflection, expression, application, analysis and evaluation of beliefs, values and practices, and the communication of personal responses to these.

Religious Education at St. John’s encourages pupils to consider challenging questions of the meaning and purpose of life; beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. Our children understand the influence of religion on individuals, families, communities and cultures.