Religious Education

Intent

We believe high-quality RE will support pupils’ religious literacy. In the context of this syllabus, being religiously literate means that pupils will have the ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews. Pupils will be able to make sense of religion and worldviews around them and begin to understand the complex world in which they live. RE is primarily about enabling pupils to become free thinking, critical participants of public discourse, who can make academically informed judgements about important matters of religion and belief which shape the global landscape.

We aim to ensure that all pupils:

• Know about and understand a range of religious and non-religious worldviews by learning to see these through theological, philosophical and human/social science lenses.
• Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religious and non-religious worldviews through a multidisciplinary approach.
• Gain and deploy skills rooted in theology, philosophy and the human/social sciences engaging critically with religious and non-religious worldviews.
• are able to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews.

Within the RE we teach there are three disciplinary fields:

• Theology: We have called this thinking through believing. It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires pupils to think like theologians, or to look through a theological lens at concepts.
• Philosophy: We have called this thinking through thinking. It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires pupils to think like philosophers, or to look through a philosophical lens at concepts.

Human/Social Sciences:  We have called this thinking through living. It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires pupils to think like human and social scientists, or to look through a human/social science lens at concepts.

Implementation

We take an enquiry-based approach for RE. This involves:

Engage Stage 1: The new enquiry is introduced by exploring the conceptual focus and core question.

Enquire Stage 2: The enquiry is co-constructed with the pupils whilst staying within the parameters of the learning outcomes.

Explore Stage 3: Pupils enquire into the core question through the suggested core knowledge.

Evaluate Stage 4: Pupils respond to, analyse and evaluate their understanding of the core question.

Express Stage 5: Pupils express the knowledge and understanding they have gained to answer the key question, with an opportunity for the teacher to assess if pupils have met the age-related expectations if appropriate.

EYFS

• Pupils begin to explore religion and worldviews in terms of important people, times, places and objects as well as visiting places of worship
• Pupils listen to, and talk about, religious stories which may raise puzzling and interesting questions
• They are introduced to specialist words and use their senses in exploring religious beliefs, practices and forms of expression.

KS1 & KS2

Progress in religious education depends on the application of general educational skills and processes. The following skills are central to religious education and should be reflected in learning opportunities in KS1 and KS2:

• Investigating: Knowing what may constitute evidence for understanding religions.
• Interpreting: The ability to draw meaning from artefacts, works of art and symbolism.
• Reflecting: The ability to reflect on feelings, relationships, experience, ultimate questions, beliefs and practices.
• Empathy: The ability to consider the thoughts, feelings, experiences, attitudes, beliefs and values of others.
• Evaluating: Weighing the respective claims of self-interest, consideration for others, religious teaching and individual conscience.
• Synthesising: Linking significant features of religion together in a coherent pattern.
• Analysing: Distinguishing key religious values and their interplay with secular ones.
• Applying Knowledge: Identifying key religious values and their interplay with secular ones.
• Expressing Knowledge and Ideas: The ability to explain concepts, rituals and practices.

Impact

The children at The Free School Norwich enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion. Through their R.E. learning, the children are able:

• to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world
• develop an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life
• extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs
• develop a religious vocabulary and interpret religious symbolism in a variety of forms
• reflect on questions of meaning, offering their own thoughtful and informed insights into religious and secular world-views
• explore ultimate questions of beliefs and values in relation to a range of contemporary issues in an ever-changing society

As such, R.E. is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.

Curriculum Progression

Your child will learn…