The RE curriculum is exceptionally well led and staff are confident in delivering content in imaginative and creative ways.

SIAMS, Nov 2024

Intent, Implementation and Impact

The national curriculum for RE aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Describe and make connections between different features and religions and worldviews.  Discover more about celebrations, worship, pilgrimages and rituals which mark important points in life, in order to reflect on their own ideas.
• Describe and understand links between stories and other aspects of the communities they are investigating, responding thoughtfully to a range of sources of wisdom and to beliefs and teachings that arise from them in different communities.
• Explore and describe a range of beliefs, symbols and actions so that they can understand different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning.
• Observe and understand varied examples of religions and worldviews so that they can explain, with reasons, their meanings and significance to individuals and communities.
• Understand the challenges of commitment to a community of faith or belief, suggesting why belonging to a community may be valuable, both in diverse communities being studied and in their own lives.
• Observe and consider different dimensions of religion, so that they can explore and show understanding of similarities and differences between different religions and worldviews.
• Discuss and present their own and others’ views on challenging questions about belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, applying ideas of their won thoughtfully in different forms including: reasoning, music, art and poetry.
• 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.
• Discuss and apply their own and others’ ideas about ethical questions, including ideas about what is right and wrong and what is fair and express their own ideas clearly in response.

Intent

R.E. in Holbrook C of E Primary school is centred around our Christian values. As a Church of England school, we work closely with our Parish church and community to develop children’s social, moral and cultural understanding with the intent of developing good citizens in today’s world.

Children are encouraged to learn, enquire and evaluate the fundamental questions of life. We explore both pupil’s own values and the views of others. Our intention is that children develop self-awareness and a tolerance for others. Pupils are encouraged to appreciate different religions, beliefs, viewpoints and cultures and develop their own views through enquiry, questioning and investigation.

Implementation

The content of our Religious Education Scheme of work is based on the Derbyshire and Derby City Agreed Syllabus; which has been designed for the religious demographic of this area. We also use Understanding Christianity to: enable pupils to know about and understand Christianity as a living world faith; develop knowledge and skills in making sense of biblical texts and understanding their impact in the lives of Christians; and develop pupils’ abilities to connect, critically reflect upon, evaluate and apply their learning to their own growing understanding of Christianity, of religion and belief more widely, of themselves, the world and human experience.

Although the Agreed Syllabus and Understanding Christianity provides the foundation for our RE curriculum, we have worked hard to adapt its delivery to suit our context by thinking carefully about the order, content and progression, allowing knowledge and skills to build logically whilst allowing topics to be revisited to deepen and strengthen learning. The topics have been planned so that all children experience an overview of world religions with the main emphasis on Christianity and three world religions studied in depth, which are Islam, Judaism and Hinduism.

Throughout the children’s time at Holbrook, they receive hands on experiences of the local church, religious workshops and faith tours to religious temples from different faiths. We also explore world religion festivals through collective worship.

Every half term, we focus on a specific Christian value; children are given the opportunity to reflect on this value and discuss how they can learn from its meaning. We celebrate children weekly for displaying our given Christian value.

A cross curricular approach is provided and R.E is taught through a range of subjects including: art, drama, poetry and music.

Impact

Outcomes are in topic books and through class discussions.  Children are encouraged throughout sessions to discuss their own ideas, thoughts, feelings and views on a range of topics.

The children write down what their thoughts are before and after units of work and are challenged to be: informed, expressive, enquiring and reflective.  This can be achieved through different mediums including discussion.

How we adapt the Curriculum for SEND Pupils

As part of our high quality approach to teaching, we use a range of strategies to support SEND pupils to access the RE curriculum. The document below details examples of the adaptations that are made to support pupils in class.

Oracy in RE

At Holbrook, our RE lessons are enhanced by the use of our ‘Speak like a Theologist’ mats, which play a vital role in promoting oracy within our lessons. These mats support children when discussing and exploring religious themes and diverse belief systems through providing structure for thoughtful and meaningful conversations.

How this fits within our school vision

At our Christian school, we have a special vision. We want to teach our students to see the world in a new way, find beauty in it, and discover happiness and purpose in their lives. We know that our faith is important, so we include it in our lessons. By helping our students understand and live by our Christian beliefs, we hope to guide them to experience life to the fullest, just like the Bible tells us in John 10:10.