Religious Education (RE)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24

Just as the wise builder chose to build his house on solid foundations, so a well-lived, successful life requires solid foundations. Through our curriculum, we aim to give our children the knowledge and skills – the foundations - they need to become fulfilled, successful, loving adults in their world.

Intent, Implementation and Impact – Religious Education curriculum

Intent

At Netheravon All Saints we believe all children should leave our school with a rich understanding and respect for the world around them. As a Church of England school, Religious Education (RE) is a core subject and treated with the same vigour and focus as maths, English and science. As a rural school with a combination of static as well as transient military families, we understand that our children have differing experiences of religion and practices of faith.  

Through study of RE our children will: 

• develop their understanding and awareness of the wider world, including beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, communities and cultures.  
• learn the skills to explain how beliefs and practices can inform and change the way people see the world and the way they live and treat others.  
• develop the skills to be sensitive to others’ beliefs, and express their views articulately and respectfully. 
• become curious about the world and celebrate diversity and difference.  

Implementation
 

In order to achieve our intent, we ensure children have opportunities to experience, reflect on and express their new learning in a variety of ways, thus developing critical awareness and the ability to view our diverse world with appreciation and wonder.  To achieve this, and to adhere to the requirements set out in the statement of entitlement, all children receive a minimum of 5% curriculum time for RE.

The Understanding Christianity resource and the Discovery RE scheme of work are used to support planning in line with the Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus. A cyclical approach to curriculum mapping embeds previous learning and builds understanding of core concepts and theology. This ensures a deep knowledge of the world faiths studied and allows children to think critically and explore their own understanding. Children in EYFS study a broad range of world faiths and cultural traditions. From then on, the curriculum focuses on four world faiths: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam. The world faiths taught are as follows:
 

By exploring religious theology, learners are equipped with a deep understanding of the religions studied and are able to apply this when tackling big questions. We aim to develop a classroom environment where inquiry is the norm, where learners are encouraged to look for alternative possibilities and to be open minded and flexible in their thinking. RE allows learning to be experience- and enquiry-based with teachers drawing upon a wide range of strategies to develop understanding. These could include:  

• Local visits  
• Specialist visitors  
• Drama and role play  
• Art 
• Writing including poetry, newspaper reports, recounts, story, writing in role  
• Group work  
• Debate, argument, discussion  

Capturing learning is essential for future retrieval. Learning is captured in either individual exercise books or in whole class floor books. Displays celebrate learning and stimulate thoughtful exploration. Floor books are used to capture RE learning as well as spiritual moments of reflection across the curriculum, making the link between faith in RE and in other aspects of our lived experience. Floor books will remain with the class as they journey through the school, being built upon year after year, thus becoming a learning tool in themselves as a way of retrieving previous learning.  

Developing secure knowledge of language is essential to support children’s enjoyment and progress in RE. RE language skills are developed throughout the school with specific new vocabulary highlighted in each unit Teacher Overview. Stem sentences provide a scaffold to support children’s thinking and articulation of their ideas. This vocabulary is included in unit Knowledge Organisers and taught explicitly.  

As set out in Appendix E of the Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus, assessment in RE is used to inform teaching and learning. The use of ‘Can I…’ learning objectives allow learners and teachers to monitor progress during each lesson. Assessment takes consideration of the best ways for learners to demonstrate their knowledge or core learning. There is no requirement for assessment in RE to be a formal piece of writing, as this may not be a true representation of the knowledge and understanding a child has of the RE taught. Learning captured in individual exercise books or whole class floor books will act as evidence for teacher judgements against each statement.  

Impact
 

Children at Netheravon All Saints will flourish and grow through the RE curriculum. They will become reflective, respectful and informed members of our community with a deep understanding and awareness of the wider world, including the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, communities and cultures. They will be curious about the wider world. They will express opinions and understanding in a variety of ways and will be confident to ask and wonder at big questions.   

Updated January 2024