Rationale

The Religious Education Curriculum

Our Vision:

At Locking School our RE curriculum is enquiry based, providing children the opportunity to explore religious ideas while reflecting on their own beliefs and identity. Children are encouraged to develop their own self-worth and beliefs while gaining knowledge of, and respect for, different people’s faiths, feelings and values.  

The RE curriculum at Locking will:

• explore religious ideas through reflection, empathy and imagination
• help children to recognise their own uniqueness as human beings, and affirm their self-worth
• allow children to feel confident about their own beliefs and identity and share them without fear of embarrassment or ridicule
• provide children an opportunity to develop a realistic and positive sense of their own religious and spiritual ideas
• become increasingly sensitive to the impact of their ideas and behaviour upon other people
• encourage children to listen carefully to the views of others and acknowledge bias in their own views
• recognise the rights of others to hold their own views
• appreciate that people’s religious beliefs are often deeply felt

RE teaching at Locking will:

• encourage pupils to develop their own patterns of belief and behaviour through exploring religious beliefs and practices and related human experiences
• provide opportunities for pupils to develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally
• encourage pupils to relate to a way of life that is different from their own, by introducing them to material from religious traditions and helping them to connect it with their own personal knowledge and experience
• challenge pupils to develop their own world views by relating their own experiences and reflecting on their own patterns of belief and behaviour
• help children to distinguish between opinion, belief and fact. To recognise bias, prejudice and stereotyping and to distinguish between the features of different religions

Assessment of RE at Locking will:

• be formative, informing planning and how to best deliver further teaching
• focus on ensuring the learning of the National Curriculum statements through children’s responses to retrieval tasks and in books
• draw on planning and knowledge organisers to understand the progress that has been made by children
• provide quality responses (verbally and written, if required) to children, ensuring all knowledge is firmly embedded
• identify children who require additional support and those who excel in the knowledge, skills and understanding required of a theologian (through identifying these children it is assumed that all others – the vast majority – have achieved the objectives at the level expected of their year group)

Curriculum Rationale - RE

The choices made within our RE curriculum will allow children to develop a deep understanding of religious beliefs. The curriculum promotes children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development while preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. The RE curriculum has a vital role to play in developing children as successful learners, confident individuals and positive contributors.

Children will know religious education both as a discipline to be studied and as a field of knowledge that can shape their outlook now and in the future. Knowing that they could, should they wish to, have a career in this area in the future. They will recognise and appreciate how religion may affect the future on a personal, national and global level.

Programme: We follow the Somerset SACRE Scheme: Awareness, Mystery and Value (2019 Syllabus). This scheme reflects the fact that the religious and cultural heritage in Britain are in the main Christian, while taking into account the teaching and practices of Islam, Hinduism and Judaism.

Timetabling: Children are taught RE every week for a minimum of 30 minutes with units spread across 2 terms. Each unit is given equal importance with approximately 6 hours of focused teaching and study during the term. In addition, specific ‘sticky tasks’ are planned throughout the learning sequence to promote retrieval of important, useful and powerful knowledge.

Awareness Mystery and Values

The focus of the RE curriculum is to provide children the opportunity to explore and develop religious beliefs while reflecting on their own beliefs and identity. There are some attitudes that are fundamental to religious education in that they are prerequisites for entering fully into the study of religion and belief, and learning from that experience. Our curriculum will help children to develop their self-esteem, curiosity, fairness and respect by providing them opportunities to recognise their own uniqueness as human beings, and affirm their self-worth; explore religious ideas through reflection, empathy and imagination; acknowledge bias in their own views and recognise the rights of others to hold differing views.

Teaching about religions and beliefs is provided in ways that are fair, accurate and based on sound scholarship. Children learn about religions and beliefs in an environment respectful of human rights, fundamental freedoms and civic values.

The curriculum in EYFS:

• Christianity and Judaism are introduced to the children
• Non-religious views are also represented in lessons
• There are six units covering special times, places and stories for both Christianity and Judaism
• Lessons encourage children to start thinking about who they are and special religious events celebrated around the world
• Children begin to learn stories for both religions and explore religious ideas through reflection and imagination

The curriculum in Key Stage 1:

• Children continue to build on their knowledge of Christianity and Judaism
• Children begin to listen to others opinions and recognise their own uniqueness
• By the end of Key Stage 1, children will be secure in their knowledge of the key beliefs of salvation, the belief in God and creation, incarnation and agape in Christianity. In Judaism, children will be secure in the knowledge of God and the Covenant and the Torah
• Teaching is based on fact and accuracy and will give attention to key historical and contemporary developments pertaining to religion and belief, and reflect global and local issues.

The curriculum in Key Stage 2:

• Children are introduced to the religion of Islam, learning the submission to the will of Allah and Iman (messengers of Allah)
• Children focus on the same topics of Christianity and Judaism as in Key Stage 1 but broaden their knowledge in these areas
• By the end of Key Stage 2, children become secure in their knowledge of all three religions. They will be able to plan, research and critically evaluate, using reasoned arguments to support conclusions
• Teaching will encourage thinking creatively, making original connections and generating ideas.