Intent

Religious Education has a significant role for the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. It promotes respect 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. The principle aim of RE is to engage pupils in an enquiry approach where they can develop their knowledge and understanding and appreciation for the expression of beliefs, cultural practices and influence of principle religions and worldviews in the local, national and wider global community. We ensure we develop the link between short term knowledge and long-term memory.

The 2020 syllabus for RE aims to ensure all children:

• Know about and understands a range of religions and worldviews.

• Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews.

• Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews.

Religious Education plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, particularly PSHE, in promoting social awareness and understanding in our children. Teaching should encourage children to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. Teaching should include and promote British Values, ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as UK citizens. High quality Religious Education should inspire the children to be knowledgeable, respectful and thoughtful of people close to them, within their community and around the world, regardless of their beliefs. Teaching should encourage the children to be aware of misjudgements and misconceptions that sometimes occur when looking at religions and beliefs.

Implementation

We follow the Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus. Through their RE learning, pupils will explore big questions about life, in order to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that they can make sense of religion and worldviews, and reflect on their own ideas and ways of living.

The agreed syllabus requires that all pupils learn from Christianity in each key stage. In addition, pupils will learn from the principal religions represented in the UK, in line with the law. These are Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Judaism. Furthermore, children from families where non-religious worldviews are held are represented in almost all of our classrooms. These worldviews, including for example Humanism, will also be the focus for study. The main focus of our teaching is built up from the representation of faiths and beliefs within our community and wider local area.

In order to deliver the aims and expected standards of the syllabus effectively, the expectation is that there is a minimum allocation of 5 percent of curriculum time for RE.

• In Reception, this equates to 36 hours of RE, e.g. 50 minutes a week or some short sessions implemented through continuous provision.
• In key Stage 1, this equates to 36 hours of tuition per year (e.g. an hour a week, or less than an hour a week plus a series of RE days).
• In Key Stage 2 this equates to 45 hours of tuition per year (e.g. an hour a week, or a series of RE days or weeks amounting to 45+ hours of RE).

Impact

Pupils are assessed periodically throughout units of learning. Each lesson, teachers will use ongoing assessment to identify where children require additional support or challenge. Within lessons, activities will be adapted accordingly. Within planning, teachers shall ensure that lessons are progressive and build upon prior learning, recapping key concepts as appropriate. Planning will identify key success criteria, gathered from the Syllabus and the knowledge and progression map, and will identify what children should be to reach the expected standard. Units are structured in such a way to allow children to revisit and build upon prior learning - this will also support children who require additional support to achieve the end of unit knowledge and skills. 

PLEASE NOTE: Due to copyright, we are unable to publish the full scheme on our website. Please contact the office if you would like to view this.