Religious Education

R.E.

We are God’s family – learning together, loving together and growing together – striving to be the best we can be for ourselves, for God and for others.

“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15:4 As outlined in the Church of England Statement of Entitlement, at Sutton-at-Hone CE Primary School, we believe that Religious Education should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10). It will help educate for dignity and respect encouraging all to live well together.

Introduction

Our RE curriculum that aims to enable children to; acquire a deep knowledge and understanding of Christian belief and practice, explore key concepts and questions and explore a range of different religious beliefs and practises. RE is taught on a once weekly basis throughout the school in a variety of different ways. In addition to this, each year group visits a place of worship and we have a whole day dedicated to RE in the summer term. Religious education has a high profile role within our school and it forms a very important part of our Christian vision. In addition to this, RE contributes to pupils’ understanding of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and British Values.

Intent

Religious Education is an educational activity that promotes the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of pupils. It aims to enable pupils to:

• know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith, by exploring core theological concepts
• develop knowledge and skills in making sense of biblical texts and understanding their impact in the lives of Christians
• develop their abilities to connect, critically reflect upon, evaluate and apply their learning to their own growing understanding of Christianity, of religion and belief more widely, of themselves, the world and human experience.

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Religious Education has a particular contribution to this aspect of education because of its subject matter and the approach that is taken to the subject in this school. Pupils are encouraged to:

• develop their own spirituality by exploring religious ideas and reflecting upon them for themselves
• develop morally by considering religious codes of conduct and discussing moral issues
• explore the social aspects of religion such as religious lifestyles
• listen to each other and to respect people whose ideas are different from their own.

Cultural development is promoted by an emphasis on Christianity, which has influenced British art, music and literature over the centuries. Our pupils are also encouraged to appreciate the diversity and richness of other cultures by studying some of the other principal religions in Great Britain. All staff engage in this teaching and learning experience with the pupils, to allow and encourage the children to develop a deep sense of self.

Implementation

Religious Education is a core subject at our school and we follow the Understanding Christianity curriculum which is adapted to suit our pupils where necessary. The curriculum follows a two yearly cycle for all classes, with the first year focusing on core learning and the second year on deepening understanding.

In addition to this, from Year 1 to Year 6 children will spend two terms learning about World faiths.

EYFS: Creation, Incarnation, Salvation In Early Years Foundation Stage, teachers will lay the foundations for RE by following the recommended Early Learning Goals, particularly ‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’ and ‘Understanding of the World’.

KS1: God, Creation, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation, Faith stories (Year 1), Judaism (Year 2) In Key Stage 1 our school draws on Christianity mainly and begins to explore faiths other than Christianity.

LKS2: Creation/ Fall, People of God, Incarnation/ God, Gospel, Salvation, Kingdom of God, Sikhism (Year 3), Hinduism (Year 4)

UKS2: God, Creation/Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation, Kingdom of God, Islam (Year 5), Buddhism (Year 6)

In Key Stage 2 Christianity continues to be studied for over 80% of the time. In addition, the pupils study Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism as set out in the Diocesan Syllabus. The following aspects of religions are considered: symbolism, worship and celebration, authority (i.e. key figures, religious leaders and holy books), values and lifestyles, and questions about the meaning and purpose of life.

The Big Frieze is a piece of artwork depicting the bigger story of The Bible. This is introduced in EYFS and is revisited at the beginning of each Understanding Christianity unit in every year group. This allows pupils to gain a deeper understanding of the wider picture of the bible, enabling them to consider the order in which the key events occur.

Impact

Pupils are taught both about religion and theology and to learn from religion and theology. The first of these objectives refers to knowledge and understanding of religions. The second makes this knowledge relevant to the pupils and encourages them to relate this to themselves. Within the new Diocesan Syllabus (2017) these attainment target areas are assessed at the end of each core unit by a series of relevant statements. These will be measured against national levels which are adopted by the Rochester Diocese and reported on at the end of each year.

Equal Opportunities

Our School values the opinions, and respects the beliefs and practices, of all pupils, staff and visitors, and handles with sensitivity, minority groups or opinions. Likewise, staff, visitors and pupils are expected to respect the beliefs and practices of each other.

Special Educational Needs

In line with the SEND Code of Practice, our school provides a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the specific needs of all pupils. In providing these learning opportunities, we follow the three principles as set out in the National Curriculum Inclusion Statement:

• to set suitable learning challenges
• to respond to pupils’ diverse learning needs
• to overcome potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of pupils.

At all levels, teachers are expected to be aware of the need to:

• extend the more able pupils in their class or group with relevant questions
• identify underachievement and give support
• plan an appropriate programme of study for learning achievement
• follow the ‘School Approach’ as identified in our School’s SEND Policy.

In accordance with this Inclusion statement, RE input and tasks are differentiated, often by questioning, at a level appropriate to each pupil so that all pupils have access to the RE curriculum.

As required by law, our school provides Religious Education (RE) for all pupils in accordance with the syllabus adopted by the Governing Body, being the Rochester Diocesan Syllabus for Religious Education. Following its advice, we devote 5% of curriculum time to this subject. Class lessons last between forty-five minutes to an hour a week over the year. Also, one additional ‘off curriculum’ day is devoted to RE each year when the children explore religion, faith and prayer more deeply for themselves and others. This is in addition to the time allocated to Collective Worship.

How can you help at home?

Children love to ask questions, having an open discussion about different faiths and beliefs is a good place to start!

If you would prefer to have a look online here are some useful websites:

https://www.theschoolrun.com/other-subjects/religious-education-re

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zmyb4wx

https://request.org.uk/

What jobs & careers can RE lead to?

RE is not limited to following a career path into religion. RE teaches tolerance and acceptance of others, it is the ideal subject for any future job or career.