RE
Intent
At Walderslade Primary School, we believe Religious Education should be challenging, inspiring and fun. As our children progress through the school, from EYFS to KS2, they will develop their levels of religious literacy and conceptual understanding; be able to articulate, with confidence, their ideas about religion, beliefs and spirituality; and change their minds, if they choose to do so. Our intent is not to make pupils into believers, but to help them become literate and articulate about religions and beliefs, becoming thoughtful members of society as a result.
As well as being an essential component of a broad and balanced education, we recognise the significant contribution RE has to make to the promotion of British values. Being a diverse school with children from many different backgrounds and faith groups, we believe that Religious Education, provides a key context to develop our pupils’ understanding and appreciation of diversity through the promotion of shared values and challenging racism and discrimination. From each child’s point of entry, the curriculum we provide allows them to develop their knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and traditions, and encourages them to explore their own beliefs (whether they are religious or non-religious).
It is our aim that the Religious Education we deliver at Walderslade, helps our young people understand what it means to be human, encouraging empathy, generosity and compassion. Through the exploration of multiple identities and local communities, through visits to places of worship and meeting people from different religious belief communities, and through a deepening understanding of beliefs and practices, it is our aim that the young people leaving our school will do so with an informed and empathetic understanding of different faith and ethnic groups which will not only help them flourish as citizens in a diverse society, but will also help promote cohesion and integration in our community.
Implementation
Our school uses the Medway SACRE agreed syllabus for Religious Education as the basis for its curriculum planning. We follow a key questions investigative approach, taught through the Discovery RE scheme of work. This begins in EYFS with children using their imagination and curiosity, through planned, purposeful play, to develop their appreciation of and wonder at the world in which they live through using their sense to explore beliefs, practices and forms of expression. Children encounter religions and worldviews through the exploration of special people, books, times, places and objects. Carefully planned progression across units means that this exploration continues as children move through the school allowing them to make more meaningful connections as they progress through the Key Stages.
RE at Walderslade is taught by class teachers who take responsibility for resourcing and delivering the curriculum, using Discovery RE as the backbone to their teaching, adapting individual medium-term plans. To ensure consistency across the school, each class receives the equivalent of an hour of RE teaching per week alongside daily acts of collective worship. Daily acts of collective worship, promoting the school values of Dream, Achieve, Respect and Excel, are held either in class or in the form of a key stage assembly. In addition to the taught curriculum and daily collective worship, the subject leader and class teachers plan visits to places of worship, giving the children first-hand experiences as well as the opportunity to meet people from different faith communities. Our children also visit our local church, St William’s Church to honour significant events in the Christian calendar, with parents also being encouraged to help us mark these occasions.
Although we follow an agreed syllabus and a scheme of work, teachers are encouraged to adapt the medium-term plans to suit the needs of their children and make links to other themes and curriculum areas where appropriate, e.g. PSHE and the promoting of British Values. Links are also made with faith groups in the community, with visitors and parents being encouraged to come into the school to share their knowledge and values with the children.
1Our scheme of work, Discovery RE advocates an enquiry model with a 4-step approach as the basis for implementation. Every unit (enquiry) is based around a key question. The key question for the enquiry is such that it demands an answer that weighs up ‘evidence’ (subject knowledge) and reaches a conclusion based on this. This necessitates children using their subject knowledge and applying it to the enquiry question, rather than this knowledge being an end in itself. Discovery RE focuses on critical thinking skills, on personal reflection into the child’s own thoughts and feelings, on growing subject knowledge and nurturing spiritual development.
The children start from their own experience to ensure understanding of the concept being studied then move into investigating that concept in depth from the point of view of the chosen religion. This continues over three lessons of investigation and discussion throughout Step 2, which embeds subject knowledge. These lessons not only support the children with embedding their RE knowledge, but also contribute to their oracy and critical thinking skills. Exposure to and analysis of religious texts can also enhance their reading, comprehension and inference skills. In Step 3, they complete an assessment activity to evaluate the question again in light of their new knowledge, and have further opportunities to embed their own reflections on the learning in Step 4.
The recommended Discovery RE model for Key Stages 1 and 2, of studying Christianity plus one other religion in each year group, means both religions have multiple enquiries (or 6 week units) per year. This ensures that the children revisit prior learning for both religions throughout the year to build on the previous enquiries, and Christmas and Easter enquiries are built on year-on-year throughout the child’s primary school journey.
In addition to this, the medium-term nature of the Discovery RE planning allows teachers the freedom to plan with detail and attention to their individual children. Learners can be scaffolded, and any individual needs can be supported where necessary. Greater depth children can be challenged to ensure that they are being given the opportunities to enrich their learning further. The subject coordinator works with teachers to ensure they are confident with their planning, as well as collating a bank of creative ideas coupled with appropriately challenging higher-order-thinking questions and discussion activities, that Discovery RE provides for each unit.
At Walderslade Primary School, we believe Religious Education should be challenging, inspiring and fun. As our children progress through the school, from EYFS to KS2, they will develop their levels of religious literacy and conceptual understanding; be able to articulate, with confidence, their ideas about religion, beliefs and spirituality; and change their minds, if they choose to do so. Our intent is not to make pupils into believers, but to help them become literate and articulate about religions and beliefs, becoming thoughtful members of society as a result.
As well as being an essential component of a broad and balanced education, we recognise the significant contribution RE has to make to the promotion of British values. Being a diverse school with children from many different backgrounds and faith groups, we believe that Religious Education, provides a key context to develop our pupils’ understanding and appreciation of diversity through the promotion of shared values and challenging racism and discrimination. From each child’s point of entry, the curriculum we provide allows them to develop their knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and traditions, and encourages them to explore their own beliefs (whether they are religious or non-religious).
It is our aim that the Religious Education we deliver at Walderslade, helps our young people understand what it means to be human, encouraging empathy, generosity and compassion. Through the exploration of multiple identities and local communities, through visits to places of worship and meeting people from different religious belief communities, and through a deepening understanding of beliefs and practices, it is our aim that the young people leaving our school will do so with an informed and empathetic understanding of different faith and ethnic groups which will not only help them flourish as citizens in a diverse society, but will also help promote cohesion and integration in our community.
