INTENT – Our Vision for RE:
Our aim is that our programme of Religious Education will do the following:
- provoke challenging questions about the meaning and purpose of life, beliefs, the self, issues of right and wrong, and what it means to be human.
- develop students’ knowledge of Christianity, other principal religions, and religious traditions that examine these questions, fostering personal reflection and spiritual development;
- encourage students to explore their own beliefs (whether they are religious or non-religious), in the light of what they learn, as they examine issues of religious belief and Faith and how these impact on personal, institutional and social ethics; and to express their responses. This will also build resilience to anti-democratic or extremist narratives.
- enable children to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society;
- teach children to develop respect for others, including people with different faiths and beliefs, and helps to challenge prejudice;
- prompt children to consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others, and to explore how they might contribute to their communities and to wider society & in so doing, encourage empathy, generosity and compassion;
- develop a sense of awe, wonder and mystery.
Our Curriculum reflects the ethos & aims of the school as well as the context from which our children derive. This means that our curriculum provides the necessary building blocks to develop the necessary knowledge & skills, whilst also promoting British Values, healthy lifestyles & mental wellbeing, plus excellent behaviour & attitudes. It is underpinned with a large emphasis on SMSC development, a strong practical outworking for others in line with our Christian ethos, whilst also building character & readiness for the next stages of education & the learning journey beyond.
To find out more about our intent, implementation & impact for RE, please open: Our Curriculum for RE.
To find out more information about the National Curriculum for this subject & others, please click.
In addition, you may want to have a look at Sheffield SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education) which is a statutory body which is constituted to provide advice in relation to religious education and collective worship, including convening a locally agreed syllabus.
IMPLEMENTATION – RE Planning & Sequencing of Knowledge & Skills:
To find out how RE is planned & sequenced in order that our children can progress through the building blocks for learning, please click below:
At Totley All Saints, we believe that breadth and depth in RE for all pupils can be achieved if the following are taken into account:
- Pupils should develop understanding of concepts and mastery of skills to make sense of religion and belief, at an appropriate level of challenge for their age.
- RE should provide opportunities for pupils to develop positive attitudes and values and to reflect and relate their learning in RE to their own experience.
- Build on the statutory requirements, it is recommended that there should be a wide ranging study of religion and belief across the key stages as a whole.
- Not all religions need to be studied at the same depth or in each key stage, but all that are studied should be studied in a way that is coherent and promotes progression.
- Pupils should have the opportunity to learn that there are those who do not hold religious beliefs and have their own philosophical perspectives, and subject matter should facilitate integration and promotion of shared values.
- The study of religion should be based on the legal requirements and provide an appropriate balance between and within Christianity, other principal religions, and, where appropriate other religious traditions and worldviews, across the key stages as a whole, making appropriate links with other parts of the curriculum and its cross-curricular dimensions.
- The breadth of study should take account of the four levels of community cohesion which all maintained schools are now obliged to promote. Decisions by SACREs and ASCs about the religions, other than Christianity, to be studied should take account of the balance of religion within: the school community, the community within which the school is located, the UK community, the global community.
Links with other Subject Areas: What links are made between this & other subject areas?
Links are made with other subject areas wherever possible especially when looking at Global Neighbours /Global issues. Links are made within assemblies to RE lessons to reinforce /embed learning.
Learning Experience: What is the breadth of experience provided for our children?
- Quality First teaching: variety of teaching styles & varied stimulus including religious artefacts
- Quality Resources: Books, texts, online resources & programmes
- Visits: Religious buildings
- Visitors: leaders of different faiths (e.g. ministers, imams, etc.)
- Experiences: Bible reflections (daily), daily prayers and Prayer Days, weekly RE lessons, P4C sessions that promote discussion of the big questions, Bible verse of the month, etc.
- Links are made within assemblies to RE lessons reinforcing/embedding learning.
Resources: What resources are used to support the teaching & learning of this subject?
- Texts
- Bibles
- Religious Artefacts
- Online resources & programmes
- Published schemes: Understanding Christianity and Discovery RE
- Pictures and photographs: Picturing Christianity
- Pupil and teacher assessment sheets.
- Word mats and prompt sheets
Links with other Subject Areas: What links are made between this & other subject areas?
Links are made with other subject areas wherever possible especially when looking at Global Neighbours /Global issues. Links are made within assemblies to RE lessons to reinforce /embed learning.
IMPACT of our RE Curriculum:
We aim for our teaching of RE to have a great impact on the lives of our children not only through the development of the whole child personally, socially, culturaly & emotionally, but also in laying the foundations for social mobility through the promotion of British Values as well as getting them ready for the next stages of their education.
Readiness for Next Stage of Education: How does this subject prepare our children for the next stage of their educational journey at secondary school & beyond?
We endeavour to ensure that the sequence of content in RE enables our children to progress whilst they are with us, but also to provide the building blocks necessary to build on at secondary school & their learning journey beyond. Underlying all of this is our emphasis on Leaning Culture which provides the underlying principles of attitude, resilience & character.
Promotion of Social Mobility: How does this subject promote social mobility?
Our aim is that no child is disadvantaged by their background situation & that, as a school, we provide everything that a child needs so that there is no cumulative dysfluency or cultural gaps in learning. As a result, we ensure that children have a broad range of curriculum experiences, free access to a wide variety of books and other resources, multiple opportunities to speak as well as listen, plus our curriculum is designed in order to boost general as well as subject specific vocabulary. We have high expectations of all our children in RE and excel in supporting all areas of a child’s development including character skills that underpin learning.
Promotion of British Values & SMSC: How does this subject promote British Values & SMSC?
Through our rich & varied RE curriculum, we ensure that our children are well equipped for life in modern Britain &, through subject linkage have an excellent understanding of Democracy, the Rule of Law, Responsibility & Liberty, Mutual Respect plus Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Our Curriculum is driven by SMSC Development &, as a result, pupils thrive – enjoying their lives, learning & want to make a difference for others.
Assessment: How is RE assessed?
- Teacher assessment
- Child self & peer assessment
- Marking
- Discussion
- Observation
- Summative end of year assessment.
Monitoring & Evaluation: How do we know we have been successful?
- Lesson observations
- Results / Data Analysis
- Work scrutiny
- Discussions.
Long Term Memory: How does RE impact on long term memory?
- Revision & recapping
- Success Criteria
- Feedback / reflection from marking
- Repeated recall
- Curriculum Mats
- Links & connections with other subject areas plus old & new knowledge
- Learning Journal
- Quizzes.
