Intent
At Redwell Primary School, we believe that the study of Religious Education teaches children about the value of mutual respect and encourages them to be curious about others and the world around them. We aim to provide the children with the knowledge and understanding of other faiths whilst promoting a positive attitude of respect to others who may hold beliefs different to their own, regardless of race, gender or religion. We want our children to develop skills which will allow them to live harmoniously within our diverse society. Through Religious Education we aim to reflect and encompass the values we have as a school.
We use Discovery R.E which is inline with the Northamptonshire’s locally Agreed Syllabus. We believe that this ensures progression and challenge throughout the whole school and a broad coverage of faiths and beliefs.
Each term, the carefully structured programme follows an enquiry approach to learning and challenges children to develop their critical thinking skills alongside the knowledge learnt in order to answer ‘big questions’. In doing so, our children acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other principal religions in Great Britain and are prepared for opportunities and experiences presented to them in later life.
Implementation
Redwell Primary School have taken the whole school approach to teaching the Discovery R.E programme. This is inline with the Northamptonshire’s locally Agreed Syllabus. We tailor it to meet the needs of our students.
The intent document identifies the knowledge and understanding and skills which the children will develop throughout each term. All skills are progressive and link to the enquiry ‘Big Question’. Each sequence of learning will follow the same in-depth steps as listed below:
Step One – Engagement
Step Two – Investigation
Step Three – Evaluation
Step Four - Expression.
All teachers follow a precise overview of units which is progressive throughout the school, developing the children’s critical thinking and empathy.
All lessons are tailored to meet the children’s needs and are personalised to the current cohort of learners.
Christianity is taught in each year group alongside one other religion giving the children the opportunity to build upon their prior learning to ensure better understanding. Lessons are taught weekly.
Other principle religions and religious festivals are celebrated through out the year in assemblies. We celebrate World Religion Day in order to bring smaller, less familiar religions to the foreground of our learning too.
Links with local religious figures support the ties between the community and the school and provide fantastic opportunities for the children to develop their religious experiences.
Every unit encompasses many of our British Values of the Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect, Tolerance of those with different faiths or beliefs and Democracy.
Impact
The impact of our Religious Education teaching begins in Early Years, where children begin their learning journey by being exposed to celebrations and opportunities to listen to stories, discuss experiences and interact with resources during their continuous provision.
By the end of each key stage, our students will be able to apply the knowledge and skills learned to reach the attainment targets. We expect them to be able to be confident in speaking about the knowledge they have acquired from each unit and be able to have respectful discussions about other beliefs which may be different from their own. We believe that the impact of this knowledge will filter to other areas of the curriculum and the wider world, leading them to have respect and tolerance for everyone and each other’s differences. This coincides with the inclusive ethos of our school.
To ensure the attainment of knowledge and skills, teachers use many different strategies to assess learning. These include formative and summative assessments, collecting evidence of children’s work and pupil voice. We feel it is important that all children are given a variety of opportunities to express their thoughts and opinions. Appropriate questioning is carefully planned to ensure children are challenged and critical thinking is evident in all lessons.
Progression Maps