RE
Religious Education Curriculum
The aim of Religious Education is to enable pupils:
¨ To acquire knowledge and understanding of the principal religions represented in our community.
¨ To develop the ability to explore, to reflect on and to respond to human experience, drawing on their study of religion.
Intent
Park Junior School follows the procedures and guidelines of the Northamptonshire Agreed Syllabus. Our RE curriculum encourages our children to become religiously literate; to enable our children to develop the knowledge and understanding around a range of religious and worldwide views so that they can describe, explain, analyse and investigate allowing then to appreciate the beliefs, practises and spiritual insights of others, including non-religious believers. We aim to offer rich, vibrant and meaningful opportunities that, through discussion and a range of learning activities, will enable our children to develop local, national and global awareness. Our RE curriculum plays an important part in preparing our children for life in modern Britain and through our curriculum drivers (community, emotional awareness, diversity) our children are able to celebrate diversity, respect and the value of others in all communities. Its importance is increasing as globalisation has created greater links and migration between societies of different faiths and cultures developing cultural capital which will enable our children to understand more about the world we live in. It is important that children develop the ability to talk with fluency and understanding about religion and belief. This enables them to be successful citizens of their future world. Through Religious Education, our children are given opportunities to reflect on the nature and role of beliefs, the attitudes and values underpinning these, and the practices and behaviours that arise because of them. It is our aim to ensure that threshold concepts link through meaningful schema rather than blocks of unrelated knowledge hence building upon knowledge, skills, confidence and independence and our curriculum is designed with an understanding that the working memory is limited and that we can aid learning and the acquisition of the long term memory with regular repeated learning experiences over time. Skills developed through the teaching of R.E. include developing self-awareness, respect for all, open-mindedness, appreciation and wonder. Our approach to learning is experiential and through enquiry. We explore diversity, respect and value of others in all communities by comparing similarities and differences within and between religions, humanism and other world views.Park Junior School follows the procedures and guidelines of the Northamptonshire Agreed Syllabus. Our RE curriculum encourages our children to become religiously literate; to enable our children to develop the knowledge and understanding around a range of religious and worldwide views so that they can describe, explain, analyse and investigate allowing then to appreciate the beliefs, practises and spiritual insights of others, including non-religious believers. We aim to offer rich, vibrant and meaningful opportunities that, through discussion and a range of learning activities, will enable our children to develop local, national and global awareness. Our RE curriculum plays an important part in preparing our children for life in modern Britain and through our curriculum drivers (community, emotional awareness, diversity) our children are able to celebrate diversity, respect and the value of others in all communities. Its importance is increasing as globalisation has created greater links and migration between societies of different faiths and cultures developing cultural capital which will enable our children to understand more about the world we live in. It is important that children develop the ability to talk with fluency and understanding about religion and belief. This enables them to be successful citizens of their future world. Through Religious Education, our children are given opportunities to reflect on the nature and role of beliefs, the attitudes and values underpinning these, and the practices and behaviours that arise because of them. It is our aim to ensure that threshold concepts link through meaningful schema rather than blocks of unrelated knowledge hence building upon knowledge, skills, confidence and independence and our curriculum is designed with an understanding that the working memory is limited and that we can aid learning and the acquisition of the long term memory with regular repeated learning experiences over time. Skills developed through the teaching of R.E. include developing self-awareness, respect for all, open-mindedness, appreciation and wonder. Our approach to learning is experiential and through enquiry. We explore diversity, respect and value of others in all communities by comparing similarities and differences within and between religions, humanism and other world views.
Implementation
Our long term RE plan covers the Northamptonshire Syllabus objectives thoroughly, ensuring that each year group builds on the previous experiences. Across the four years, we teach Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. As well as this, non-religious beliefs (humanism) and an acknowledgment of other world views. Our children are encouraged to be curious and to ask increasingly challenging questions about religion, belief, values and human life. The sequences of lessons promote an enquiry based curriculum, which are planned so that links between beliefs are consistently revisited to enable children to build upon the skills, knowledge and understanding of the diverse communities within our own locality, nationally and globally. Children are encouraged to make connections between different features of the religions and worldviews they study, and ask questions that lead them further into their enquiry and research. They describe and understand links between stories and other aspects of the communities they are investigating and explore and describe a range of beliefs, symbols and actions so that they can understand different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning. Deeper thinking promotes why belonging to a community may be valuable, both in the diverse communities being studied and in their own lives. Discussing challenging questions about belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, in their own lives and that of others, and linking to the expressive arts, pupils develop their own imaginative and creative ways of expressing their own and others’ beliefs. They consider and apply ideas about ways in which diverse communities can live together for the well-being of all, responding thoughtfully to ideas about community, values and respect, and discuss and apply their own and others’ ideas about ethical questions, including ideas about what is right and wrong and what is just and fair, and express their own ideas clearly in response. We ensure that the threshold concepts: understanding beliefs and teaching, practices and lifestyles, how beliefs are conveyed, reflect upon how religion plays an important role in the lives of some people, and appreciate how many people place values as an important aspect of their lives are developed through each year group so that the linked learning experiences are embedded into the longer term memories of our children. Rich experiences including visitors and visits enable children to observe and question. Every child is encouraged to reach their potential through careful differentiation of questioning, depth of discussion, resources and activities to support and extend.
Impact
We believe that it is essential that all pupils are able to explore religions, engage with their knowledge, and reflect on their learning and their lives. Consideration of the pupils’ religious experiences and their responses in discussion forms part of our formative assessment. Each sequence of learning will enable pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the essential core ideas and practices of the religions and beliefs being studied and that this is shown in the development of their abilities to interpret, apply and evaluate those ideas and practices. At the end of each sequences of learning, assessment for each pupil is guided by the statements that support the progression and attainment for each year group. Over the year there should be a variety of AT1 and AT2 pieces in different styles of creativity, such as discussion, role play, drama, music, art, writing, reading, research, presentation and design. A range of monitoring strategies by the subject leader and senior managers, including book trawls, planning checks, pupil voice and learning walks support the assessment of impact across year groups. At the end of Key Stage Two, the collection of data Is reported to the local authority.