Religious Education

Religious Education is lead by our Deputy Headteacher, Mr Sharp.

Intent

Our RE curriculum aims to provide a broad and balanced understanding of the role religion plays in our world today. We believe that religious literacy is key to ensuring all children, including those who are disadvantage and with SEND, are able to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religions and worldviews. We aim to achieve this by guaranteeing children learn about a wide range of religions and worldviews from the view point of theology, philosophy and human/ social sciences. Children are encouraged to take on ‘big questions’ as the basis of their enquiry-based learning and explore these through reading and academic study, exciting activities and memorable experiences; inspiring them to think creatively and critically about religion.

Our curriculum is designed to reflect our community, with a main focus on religions which are close to our community, such as Christianity, as well as offering lots of opportunity for in-depth learning about other religious communities across Britain and the world. We believe this diverse offer develops the whole child, underpinned by our school values of Friendship, Courage and Confidence. Through these values, we aim to support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development so children are socially aware and respectful of all faiths and are prepared to be compassionate members of our local and worldwide community as they take the next step in their lives.

Implementation

At St Andrew's we use the Essex Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education , adopted by our governors and staff.

essex approved syllabus.pdf

Our RE curriculum is based on the three academic disciplines: Theology, Philosophy and Human/Social Science.

Theology: We call this thinking through believing. It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires children to think like theologians, or to look at concepts through a theological lens. Children will explore questions and answers that arise from inside religions and worldviews.

Philosophy: We call this thinking through thinking. It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires children to think like philosophers, or to look at concepts through a philosophical lens. Children will explore questions and answers raised through considering the nature of knowledge, exisitence and morality.

Human/Social Science: We call this thinking through living. It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires children to think like human and social scientists, or to look at concepts through a human/social science lens. Children will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the impact of religions and worldviews on people and their lives.

To understand more please view this video:

During some Theology units our teachers also use the Understanding Christianity resources to support their planning.

What religions and worldviews do children learn about?

Across the year, each key phase will study and explore different religions through their enquiry questions linked to one of these disciplines.

Children focus on some religions as ‘in depth’ studies and others as ‘encounter’ studies. As a Church of England school, Christianity is an ‘in depth’ study in all year groups. Through the enquiry questions, there are opportunities for children to also compare and contrast different faiths and world views so they are able to explore the enquiry question fully, providing children with a broad and balanced understanding, so they can make knowledgeable responses during their learning journey.

EYFS

KS1

LKS2

UKS2

In Depth

Christianity

Hinduism

Christianity

Islam

Hinduism

Christianity

Humanism

Buddhism

Encounter

Judaism

Sikhism

Judaism

Humanism

Islam

Judaism

Sikhism

(1. During the 2023-2024 year we have suggested that teachers can start to teach Islam as a comparison and an 'encounter' religion to reflect our changing diversity of faiths within our community.

2. At UKS2 children will have the opportunity to extend and deepen their understanding through comparing beliefs from all previous religions studied)

St Andrew's Religious Education Curriculum Overview

re curriculum st andrews 2024 final.pdf

How do children record their learning?

Religious Education lessons are a core subject within our curriculum at St Andrew’s. Therefore, like in English and Maths, all classrooms have a dedicated space within the learning environment for an RE Working Wall. This is an interactive space, which allows each class to document and build each step within the learning journey, working towards the children answering their enquiry question at the end of the unit. Teachers and children use the working wall to gather and record their ideas and recall learning from previous lessons to build new learning onto.

As with all learning in our classrooms, RE lessons at St Andrew’s are engaging and interactive. Children use lesson time to explore their thoughts and feelings in relation to faith and their enquiry question. This can be seen through children debating ideas and using new knowledge from the study of religious texts, accounts and visits from people of faith and exploration of religious art work and artefacts, to make and come to their own conclusions. Children will sometimes write this down and record their work in their RE book but sometimes these discussions are evidence through video recording, photos and observations of whole class conversations.

How do staff assess children’s learning?

Teachers use the syllabus assessment statements to make a judgment of pupils progress through Monitoring Made Easy assessments forms, which are conducted half termly at the end of each unit. Teaching staff use the syllabus exemplification documents to moderate children’s work throughout the unit, before making a final assessment.

Teachers and support staff use our school live marking policy to provide assessment and feedback to children during lessons, as they do in all subjects.

Examples of RE work

Here are examples of children's work throughout the school. Children work in RE books in class, however work is also collected on working walls. Theses show the learning journey, which is tracked by staff and children on these class RE displays. This supports children to build on their previous lessons learning and help them track their ideas and thoughts throughout the enquiry unit. This work is taken off the display and put into a scrap book each half term, so children can look back on their learning and make links between topics. Some of the work below is work from children's own books and some show examples of their learning from their RE scrap books. We hope you enjoy taking a look.

UKS2

uks2 re examples of work.pdf