Religious Education
Aims:
The principal aims of RE is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.
Intent, Implementation and Impact of our Religious Education (R.E) curriculum
Intent
At Monkleigh Primary School, our aim is to deepen pupils’ knowledge about religions and to develop their religious literacy. Pupils encounter core concepts in religions and beliefs, improving their understanding and their ability to explore these key concepts. Our approach sets the context for open investigation of diverse religious traditions as well as non-religious world views. We also include and promote British values, ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as UK citizens. Our curriculum is designed to encourage creativity, imagination, inquiry, debate, discussion and independence.
Implementation
Our school uses the Devon Agreed Syllabus for R.E as a basis for our curriculum. The syllabus is designed to support schools in developing and delivering excellence in R.E. This is achieved through studying one religion at a time (systematic units), and then including thematic units which build on the learning by comparing the religions, beliefs and practices discussed. This teaching and learning approach of the Agreed Syllabus has 3 core elements which are woven together to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religions and beliefs.
These elements are:
- Making sense of beliefs – understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions.
- Making connections – establishing relationships between these beliefs and pupil’s own lives and ways of understanding the world.
- Understanding the impact – In this element, pupils examine how and why people put their beliefs into action within their everyday lives, their communities and in their wider world.
The 3 core elements which underpin the Agreed Syllabus, which has been taken into account, resulting in the following topics being selected for study:
Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism
From the syllabus it is required that:
Early Years Foundation Stage - To prepare children for learning about a wide range of religions, this cohort focuses on the theme of 'discovery'; this spans an understanding of who God is to Christians and the Christian celebrations of Easter and Christmas, before an exploration of special people, places and stories. Early links are made between the different places and stories that are special to people of different religions. Most of all, there is a focus on creating a sense of wonder and curiosity that carries on into their KS1 and KS2 Religious Education.
KS1 (Years 1 and 2) – Christianity, Judaism and Islam are studied.
KS2 (Years 3 to 6) – Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism are studied.
We will follow the Devon and Torbay agreed syllabus and use the objectives for a two year rolling programme for our mixed aged classes, ensuring that over the 2 academic years in each class all the learning objectives as outlines are completed. Each class will teach a unit of RE on alternate half terms, either the first or second part of the term depending on how it fits in with other subjects. The lessons will be blocked together to ensure good continuity and coverage.
At Monkleigh Primary School, we value the religious background of all members of the school community and are also fortunate that members of our local church visit us regularly to engage and encourage us by enriching our school values. Their many visits include re-enacting stories from the Bible (Open the Book), assemblies with the vicar, giving talks on the significance of different ways of life and to provide support throughout the year for services such as Christingle, Harvest and Remembrance. Our Religious Education curriculum is enhanced further with regular trips to places of worship in our local area.
Impact
The children at Monkleigh Primary School extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and world views, recognising their local, national and global contexts. They become encouraged to be curious and ask increasingly challenging questions regarding religion, faith, values and human life. Pupils learn to express their own ideas in response to the material they engage with and are able to give their own coherent reasons to support their ideas and views. Through their R.E. learning, pupils are given the opportunity to wonder about the world, explore connections between beliefs and practices studied and can reflect about life in the world today.
The work given to pupils, over time and across the school, consistently matches the aims of the curriculum. It is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning.
Pupils are making progress in that they know more, remember more, understand more and do more. They are learning what is intended in the curriculum.
All learning builds towards end points, these end points will be in children’s books at the end of each unit of work and demonstrate the learning and impact of the unit of work.
PLYMOUTH Agreed Syllabus 2024 2029.pdf
