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Religious Education

Why we teach your child religion:

Our aim is to provide an enriching RE curriculum which guides our pupils spiritual, moral and cultural compass in the community. To ensure depth, we teach the principles and practices of the world's major faiths. We continually encourage our children to explore and discuss shared and different practices, whilst also reflecting on their individual faith, identity and belonging in the community. Throughout their learning in R.E. lessons, we aim for children to have a secure understanding that we live in a multi-faith society and encourage acceptance and appreciation of such diversity.

What our curriculum looks like:

Our Religious Education curriculum is holistic, and this starts right from Nursery. Using the content from our recommended local authority scheme and the Early Years Framework we have carefully sequenced our religion curriculum so children learn in a logical step by step manner. 

In religion we have six big ideas (faith, worship, rituals, connections, symbolism and community) and our curriculum is sequenced so children’s schemata can grow through the connection of new knowledge with previous knowledge. 

We have carefully mapped our curriculum, carefully considering some of the following:

  • Is the curriculum planned in accessible step-by-step manner so children can build on previous learning?
  • Are we enabling children to remember what is most important?
  • How does teaching in the Early Years introduce pupils to the study of religion?
  • At the end of year 6, do children have wide breadth of knowledge of religion and non-religious concepts?
  • Do children have meaningful visits to places of worship? Do outcomes of trips demonstrate understanding of the curriculum?
  • How does the curriculum provide pupils with the capacity to make sense of religion and views held by communities around the world?

Our RE curriculum long-term plan can be found below:

This is underpinned by a medium-term plan which sets out the core knowledge and skills children will be learning in their learning. 

Each unit of learning begins with a ‘thinking square’, which assesses the existing knowledge and misconceptions children may have against the core knowledge they need to learn. This then supports and informs the teaching of that unit. At the end of each unit, children will revisit this thinking square to build on existing knowledge and apply what they have learnt. Additionally, children will complete a ‘conceptual’ question which challenges them to apply their new learning in a more open religious context – this supports children to retain what they have learnt. 

How we teach religion:

As with every subject, we recognise what makes religion unique, and as a result make pedagogical choices to ensure teaching is the best it can possibly be.

We have captured our pedagogical choice for religion in our R.E. principles which can be seen below: 

How you can help your child at home:

EYFS and Key Stage 1 

  • Visit BBC Teach for short, animated clips about world religions.
  • Take a look at Charlie and the Blue short films, engaging children on religious traditions, places of worship and festivals.
  • As you travel, point out various Places of Worship and encourage children to describe what they see. 
  • At important family events such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays talk with your child about the things your family does at these. Talk about how your practices might be similar to/different from those of others.

Key Stage 2 

  • Visit KS2 Religious Education - BBC Bitesize for a useful overview and breakdown of world religions. 
  • Encourage your child to put litter in a bin/bring it home. Go along with your child on a community litter pick. Help them to take pride in their local community. Link these actions to your and your child’s values and help them to recognise how values, behaviours and consequences are linked.
  • On walks in your local area, you may pass religious buildings and discuss what you think (or know) happens in them. There may be war memorials close by for example, and you could discuss remembrance practices. 
Implementation

R.E. is taught in a weekly lesson, by each class teacher. United Learning Primary Curriculum: Religion and Worldviews is the scheme used to support the teaching of R.E in both KS1 and KS2. Work is recorded in R.E. books and is evidenced using a variety of outcomes as suggested by the agreed syllabus.

The teaching of Religion and Worldviews enables pupils to explore their own beliefs (whether they are religious or not), ideas, feelings, experiences and values in the light of what they learn. It encourages empathy and respect, enables pupils to develop their own sense of identity and belonging, as well as promotes respect for the right of others to hold different beliefs, values and ideas.

It is planned and sequenced to develop deep, lasting learning and builds upon prior knowledge, which our children can use today, tomorrow and for the rest of their lives.

During each Key Stage, pupils are taught knowledge, skills and understanding through learning about Christianity and other faiths in greater depth, ensuring complete coverage by the end of Year 6. Coverage consists of:

Year 1 – Christianity and Judaism

Year 2 – Christianity and Hinduism

Year 3 – Christianity, Islam and Humanism

Year 4 – Christianity, Humanism, Islam 

Year 5 – Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism

Year 6 – Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Humanism

Each unit of work identifies prior learning and shows how this is built upon.

Links with our local church, St Etheldreda’s and visits to a variety of places of worship provide a variety of first-hand experiences for our children, to spark their interest and relate new learning to their own experience. Each unit clearly sets out the knowledge that should be taught and reviewed in the sequence of lessons.

The United Learning R&W Curriculum has been very carefully sequenced to ensure coverage and appropriate progression through substantive and disciplinary knowledge and reflects up to date research and pedagogy.

Children at Queen’s Manor also focus on individual values and skills, which we discuss and celebrate throughout the year such as; World Religion Day, International Day, Christmas and Eid celebrations.

Impact

At Queen’s Manor Primary School, we seek to ensure that all pupils in our school are educated to develop in a way that enables them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world. Regular lessons and celebrations of religious and non-religious festivals and events, implemented alongside weekly R.E. lessons, will help to celebrate the diversity of the wider community at Queen’s Manor, including the beliefs, traditions, culture, language and history.

Our RE curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. The children make progress by knowing more, remembering more and being able to do more. They need to transfer and embed key concepts into their long-term memory and apply them fluently.

We measure the impact of our curriculum in the following ways:

  • Assessing children’s understanding of each unit’s linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
  • Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
  • Pupil’s books are scrutinised, observing images and work evidence of the children’s learning. Children demonstrate a positive attitude towards people of any religion and show an understanding of cultural beliefs different to their own.
  • They demonstrate respectful behaviour to all and this is transferable outside of school in the wider community and beyond.

We believe that RE is an essential area of study which will see an outcome ensuring that Queen’s Manor children are well prepared for life in a world where there are a multitude of viewpoints. 


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