Religious Education RE

Subject Leader

The subject leader for Religious Education (RE) is Mr Griffiths.

They can be contacted by emailing admin@stpeters.ycway.uk using the subject title FAO of followed by the name of the subject leader. Emails typically receive a reply within 2-3 working days. Please note most of our subject leaders have a full-time teaching commitment.

With oversight and support from our Senior Leadership team subject leaders oversee and monitor the intent, implementation and impact of their subject.

 

Curriculum Development

Intent – The ambition and principles of our curriculum for our children. The curriculum content we expect children to learn. What we expect children to know. 

Implementation – How the intentions are realised. The sequence and strategies used to ensure children know and remember more. 

Impact – How we check and see if children know what we expect them to and how we help them further if needed. How knowledge and skills learnt improved and enriches their lives socially, emotionally, spiritually as well as academically.

 

Subject Rationale

Although RE is not part of the National Curriculum, schools still teach RE. Non statutory guidance is provided, which outlines what a well design RE curriculum should entail (this is outlined in our detailed rationale attached below). Our curriculum is based on the North Yorkshire Agreed Syllabus for RE which meets all elements outlined in the non statutory guidance.

RE supports children in becoming secure and fluent in the identified agreed core knowledge and skills. Fluency and security in this core knowledge allows children to explore concepts in greater depth whilst allowing children to find their own place within a diverse, multi-religious society. This then enables children to articulate informed responses about religion and non-religion and provides them with the opportunity to discover their own place in our world.

At St Peter’s the journey to becoming RE literate begins in the Early Years (EY). Our youngest children learn about RE following the appropriate EY units from the agreed syllabus which connect with the EYFS areas of learning known as ‘Understanding the World’ and ‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’.

These will also be complemented by exploration of children’s interest and the ‘here and how’ gained from the observation, assessment and planning cycle. For instance, children will explore their own identity and listen to ideas of those around them, when taking part in circle time. Positive conversations are modelled and shared, to develop positive attitudes about the differences between people.

By the time children reach the end of Year Six they will have developed a secure religious understanding and will be working in line with age related national expectations. All children will have had the opportunity to visit  religious buildings and hear from different faith leaders and people from different faiths and also from those who do not identify with any particular faith.

Related Development Matters Learning

Understanding the World

  • Talk about members of their immediate family and their community.
  • Compare and contrast characters from stories including figures from the past.
  • Understand that some places are special to members of their community.
  • Recognise that people have different beliefs and celebrate special times in different ways.
  • recognise some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries.

Personal Social and Emotional Development 

  • Express their feelings and consider the feelings of others.
  • Think about the perspective of others.

RE Subject Rationale

 

Subject Sequence and Knowledge Progression

As a church school we recognise the importance of teaching RE as an academic subject. We recognise are responsibility to teach it to a high standard taking into account our statutory duties as outlined in the Church of England Statement of Entitlement.

The documents below outline in more detail the sequence children will follow in relation to Religious Education and the progression of knowledge.

Curriculum Intent & Implement RE Subject Overview

We implement the North-Yorkshire-Agreed-Syllabus-2019-2024 which outlines in detail the concepts and knowledge the children will taught and the sequence in which this will be delivered. We actively engage in RE networks to support the continual improvement of RE teaching and learning.

 

Knowledge Organisers Examples

To help children secure the intended knowledge we are developing a range of child friendly knowledge organisers to support our curriculum implementation. Some examples are attached below.

Knowledge Organiser – Resurrection 

Knowledge Organiser – What Would Jesus Do UKS2

Knowledge Organiser RE – What does it mean for Muslims to follow God

KS1 Knowledge Organiser – What makes some places sacred UKS2

Knowledge Organiser RE – What does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain today

LKS2 Knowledge Organiser RE – Why are festivals important to religious communities

 

Impact Examples

We are pleased to share some examples of how knowledge and skills learnt have improved and enriched our children’s lives socially, emotionally, spiritually as well as academically.

‘In RE we learn about different world religions including Christianity, Islam and Judaism. This helps us understand how different people live. This will help us understand others better and get on well.’ – Year 4 child

 

Through the unit ‘Which people are special and why’ Early Years children learn about who is special to them and why and the qualities of good friends. They learn about the disciples and how they were special friends to Jesus and how Jesus helped his friends through the story of Blind Bartamus. This impacts on their personal development and wellbeing positively influencing they way they treat others within and beyond school.

 

Learning tasks encourage children to reflect and think deeply about the subject content. This deep thinking impacts positively on the children as it helps secure the content into long term memory meaning children are well prepared to continue studying the subject in the future into Key Stage 3 and beyond. In the context of many of the RE units this deeper thinking impacts on children’s moral development helping them to consider a range of different perspectives developing empathy and understanding.