“Our curriculum promotes social mobility;

we give our children the roots to grow and the wings to fly.”

R.E at St George’s

Intent  

At St. George’s, our Religious Education (RE) provision reflects the Church of England Statement of Entitlement, develops religious literacy and meets statutory obligations. We believe that it is important for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them. The aim of Religious Education in our school is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain; to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We follow the Lincolnshire Agreed Syllabus 2018 within our school and throughout all aspects of school life we weave our School Values, inspiring our children to emulate our values of; forgiveness, peace, friendship, trust, hope and respect. We want our children to be the very best members of a culturally and socially diverse society that they can be, with a particular emphasis on inclusivity and acceptance.

The Lincolnshire Agreed Syllabus 2018 helps pupils to know about and understand Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism following core, progressive themes of God, Being Human, Community, Worship and Celebration and Life Journey/ Rites of passage. This ties in with our school driver of Healthy Body, Healthy Mind as we provide our children with a range of different beliefs, religions and faiths to broaden the mind and extend depth of understanding, providing them with a healthy attitude to the world around them. RE plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, in promoting social awareness and understanding in our children. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We include and promote British values, ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as UK citizens. The Philosophy 4 Children approach is used within school and allows children to explore different approaches and apply their learning in RE in a different way. At St George’s, we relish the daily opportunities we have to learn outside, and our driver of The Natural World is a key factor in the reflection, philosophical and spiritual work our children take part in, in areas such as the woodland, allotment and Base Camp, to explore their ideas and beliefs in the most natural way possible.

Implementation  

We use the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2018, developed by Lincolnshire Diocese, as the basis for our curriculum. At St George’s, having considered the requirements and guidelines presented in the Agreed Syllabus, the following religions have been selected for study:

Christianity

Islam

Judaism

Hinduism 

From the syllabus it is required that;

In the Early Years Foundation Stage the learning outcomes are referenced to Christianity and as appropriate to a range of other beliefs and cultures. The children within the Foundation Stage Unit have a wealth of opportunities to explore a range of different cultures, traditions and customs through learning about key festivals such as Diwali, Eid, Hanukah and Chinese New Year and to reflect upon the diversity and cultural differences within our local community and the wider world.

KS1 – Christianity and Islam are studied (and one other religion as a comparison-we have chosen Judaism)

KS2 – Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are studied (and one other religion as a comparison-we have chosen Judaism)

There is clear progression across the RE curriculum, from Foundation Stage to Year 6, following the core progressive theme, and the learning that has been done previously is built upon and developed within each of the religions studied. Within our medium term plans, we focus on three strands of knowledge; substantive, disciplinary and personal. These three areas allow the children to explore traditions and facts about religions and non-religions, use a range of reflective methods to deepen their knowledge and understanding and consider their own position, presuppositions and values. In order to develop disciplinary knowledge, we use 'lenses' to help children to develop  specialised knowledge and skills within RE. These 'lenses' are; Theology (Believing), Philosophy (Thinking) and Human and Social Sciences (Living) and together create a balanced curriculum of Religious Literacy.

At the start of each unit of work, children are introduced to a 'Big Question', based on either Believing, Thinking or Living. This is then re-visited at the start of every lesson, to develop and strengthen understanding and consider how opinions and views may change as knowledge and understanding deepens. 

There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff.  We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely.  All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community. 

We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils.  We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children. This means that where possible we invite visitors into school and trips to local places of worship are organised. Our key Church services are regularly supported by different clergy representations and we attend services at the local New Life Church, as well as our own St George’s Church.

Each class engages with a session of Godly Play each half term.  Key learning within RE is explored, revisited and retrieved through a range of meta cognition strategies with our Daily Dashboard lessons. Teachers timetable a weekly session that is dedicated to RE and taught by the class teacher.  This is at least 45 minutes for FS and KS1, and at least an hour for KS2. 

Impact  

The impact of a quality, assessed RE curriculum, delivered by qualified teachers in accordance with our Intent, is a solid basis for learning about the world in which we live and the people with whom we live.  It is instrumental in teaching the children tolerance and acceptance, as they understand those with different belief systems from their own, whilst learning and exploring more deeply about their own beliefs.  This impacts on many other areas of the curriculum, encouraging children to ask big questions, whilst building a relational understanding of history, science and RSE within their own faith structure.

Our assessments are based on substantive knowledge (the knowledge of the content of religious traditions that children know), disciplinary knowledge (the different ways of knowing, that help children to understand and use some of the techniques used when studying religious traditions) and personal knowledge (understanding their own beliefs, faith and position).

Data is taken at 3 points of the year; December, March and July, to monitor which children are on track and those falling below or exceeding in the area. The subject leader then looks for ways to support key classes and children, whether it be through discussions, looking for extra expertise of finding additional resources. Pupil interviews are used by the subject leader to gain an insight from the children and the understanding they have gained from their work in RE.