RE Curriculum Statement

Intent

Children join us with observational skills and knowledge of their community, and with some of the world around them. Our aim is to teach empathy, reflection and an openness, to begin to understand the different religions and world views which add richness to our lives. We invite children to look at themselves and their own communities, while weaving in knowledge and understanding about others, other cultures and religions. We want children to have a better understanding of themselves and those with different world views and religions. This will enable them to progress to KS3, and indeed the world, in a more informed and sympathetic way.

Implementation

We follow the National Curriculum requirements to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, which includes RE. As such, we adhere to the Agreed Syllabus for RE in Nottinghamshire. This allows us teach a progression of skills and knowledge in a logical sequence, while ensuring that we meet the specific needs of our children. An RE skills and knowledge progression map has been created to ensure prior learning is built upon as a child progresses from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 6. We have focused on placing the child and their knowledge of the world, at the heart of our curriculum. Therefore, children learn about the  6 main religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism), while ‘exploring’ the customs and beliefs of those around them in the wider world.

Our RE learning is specifically chosen to ensure that we deliver the skills and knowledge outlined in our progression map. The progression map contains the critical skills and knowledge from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 6, to ensure that we are building on suitable repetition, retrieval and consolidation of key skills.

Each area of study begins with an Enquiry Question, and this acts as the starting point as the key planning information for class teachers. The focus of the Enquiry Questions is to encourage children to think critically and deeply into an area of a specific religion. Thus, children are applying their knowledge to critical thought and are building important transferrable skills. All areas of study include key vocabulary, key skills and knowledge, planned retrieval and assessment indicators. Teachers assess the children’s work against the skills through formative assessment during the year. Differentiation is built into our teaching, to ensure that children are able to demonstrate greater depth in RE. Assessment is also used to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of our children.

RE is taught on a regular basis, to help children develop their retrieval skills, by building on prior learning, and helping them with their critical thinking skills. This helps children to use the skills they have developed alongside other subjects in the curriculum.

Impact

Our aim is for the teaching of RE to support the children’s spiritual, cultural, social and moral development. RE lessons offer a structured and safe place during curriculum time for critical thinking and reflection. We believe that these foundations will encourage and enable them to develop their critical thinking skills and knowledge as they progress into KS3 and further.