Religious Education and Worldviews:

Intent:

At St Mark’s Church of England Primary School, our Religious Education (R.E.) curriculum strongly contributes to each pupil’s development empowering them to become tolerant, resilient and understanding citizens within our school,  local community and wider world. 

R.E. teaching is underpinned by our school vision of ‘loving God’ and ‘serving others.’  We aim to support and challenge pupils to reflect upon, develop and affirm their own beliefs, values and attitudes. We strive to inspire children, through music, liturgy, stories and reflection. Both our curriculum and Collective Worships provide opportunities for spiritual development and personal reflection for pupils and staff. 

Aims of R.E. and Worldviews at St. Mark's C.E. Primary School:

At St. Mark’s, the agreed main aims of Religious Education are:

• To provoke challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life and beliefs about God.
• To develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, exploring core theological concepts and those of other principal religions and religious traditions.
• To encourage the pupils to develop a sense of community, identity and belonging.
• To encourage pupils to learn from different religions, beliefs, values and traditions.
• To offer opportunities for personal reflection and to nurture children’s own spiritual development.
• To develop respect for and empathy with others, especially whose faith may be different from their own.

Through our exploration of a variety of beliefs within a tradition, we seek to ensure our pupils gain an accurate understanding of the complexity and diversity of religious traditions and perspectives in order to avoid stereotypes.  

We appreciate the importance of ensuring our approach to teaching and learning explores faiths through the disciplinary lenses of theology, philosophy and social practice. In all our learning, we are mindful of ensuring learning is built over time and that links are made between religions and worldviews to ensure our curriculum is rigorous and challenging. 

Implementation:

In line with the statement of entitlement, Religious Education (R.E.) is regarded as a core subject at St Mark's, alongside English, Maths and Science.

To support the planning, teaching and delivery of our Religious Education curriculum, we utilise two schemes of work: ‘Understanding Christianity’ and the ‘Emmanuel Project.’   Our curriculum is rigorous and challenging with lessons that are carefully planned and sequenced to ensure progression of skills. In the Early Years, we introduce the children to the concept of Christian faith and how some Christians might demonstrate this through prayer and celebrations. The children are further introduced to the concept of cultural and religious diversity through exploring festivals from other religions and stories from a variety of cultural backgrounds. R.E. learning in the Early Years is recorded in a floor book. In KS1 and KS2, children have their own personal R.E. books that document their on-going exploration linked to the enquiry question.  End of unit assessments are also recorded. 

In line with the statement of entitlement, R.E. is delivered as part of a weekly lesson scheduled into the timetable. Lessons are carefully planned and sequenced to ensure progression of skills.   Children in KS1 and KS2 have a separate R.E book to record all their learning and assessments. Pupils participate in activities which promote knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews recognising their local, national and global context. 

R.E. learning is enriched through celebration of Christian festivals and nativities. In addition to this, it is further enriched through visits or visitors, for example, Bournemouth Reform Synagogue and Bournemouth Islamic Centre. Visitors are used to explore faiths and worldviews in more depth. Every year, an R.E. or spirituality-themed week takes place to allow children the opportunity to make connections between different faiths and non-faiths. 

We do respect parents' rights to withdraw their child from R.E. and worship; this is always through open discussion with parents. 

Our R.E. curriculum overview has been carefully planned (using Understanding Christianity and the Emmanuel Project) to ensure that each year group explores four Christianity units, including Incarnation and Salvation.  Moreover, each year group has the opportunity to study two units of worldviews. We ensure that worldviews are built on progressively and re-visited. For example, in Year 1, children are introduced to Judaism which is then re-visited in Year 2 and Year 4 to ensure a spiral curriculum and to build on key knowledge and skills.  Our R.E curriculum also includes the study of Islam, Hinduism and Humanism to ensure a broad picture of the diversity of our society and to enable our children to gain a coherent, deepening understanding of belief and practices of major world religions and non-religions.

Each Understanding Christianity unit incorporates the three elements:

-Making sense of the text – Developing skills of reading and interpretation; understanding how Christians interpret, handle and use Biblical texts; making sense of the meanings of texts for Christians

-Understanding the impact – Examining ways in which Christians respond to Biblical texts and teachings, and how they put their beliefs into action in diverse ways within the Christian community and in the world

-Making connections – Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the texts and concepts studied, and discerning possible connections between these and pupils own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Each Understanding Christianity unit begins with a ‘way in’ and then offers teaching and learning ideas for each element. The teacher chooses how to weave together the elements, from making sense of the text, through looking at the impact on the world of Christianity, and helping to make connections with the world of the pupil, in order to achieve the outcomes.

Within Understanding Christianity, the 'big story' of the Bible is taught across the school through 8 'core concepts' which children encounter as part of a spiral curriculum as they move through the school.  

Through the Emmanuel Project resource, the use of an enquiry approach engages with significant theological concepts and the pupil’s own understanding of the world as part of their wider religious literacy. Using the Dorset Agreed Syllabus, we learn about other religions (Judaism, Islam, Hinduism) and non-religions (Humanism), fostering respect for them. Links with our Christian values and vision, and support for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development are intrinsic to our R.E. curriculum and have a significant impact on learners. We provide a wide range of opportunities for learners to understand and to make links between the beliefs, practices and value systems of the range of faiths and world views studied.  

R.E. offers a wide variety of teaching and learning experiences, understanding that pupils learn best in different ways. Pupils will experience opportunities to learn and express themselves through an enquiry based style of learning by: 

• Listening to the teacher and each other
• Asking and discussing ‘enquiry' questions
• Reading of texts
• Seeking information for themselves in books and through digital technology
• Taking part in discussion with the teacher and other pupils
• Pair and group work
• Using a range of media, such as artefacts, pictures, photographs, music and drama
• Visit / visitors
• Artwork
• Outdoor learning
• Dedicated time for reflection

Our curriculum is fully inclusive and aspirational for all, including SEND.  Our aim is for all children to flourish. 

Policy and practice in R.E. reflects whole school policy and encompasses the full range and ability of all pupils. All pupils’ contributions are valued in R.E. as they draw on their own experiences and beliefs. A range of teaching and learning strategies to achieve adapted learning and assessment are used including task, outcome, resource, support and pupil grouping. There is particular focus to ensure that all tasks are challenging and sufficiently demanding to stimulate and engage all pupils whilst extending the most able. 

Impact:

The pupils at St Mark’s Church of England Primary make progress in their R.E. learning through high levels of engagement and enjoyment. We use a range of techniques to evaluate the pupil’s knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs.

• Discussions and children’s contributions
• Accurate use of religious vocabulary
• Half termly assessment tasks - although we appreciate assessment is an on-going process. 

Whole school monitoring of R.E. takes the form of:

•          Book looks

•          Planning scrutiny

•          Analysing half termly assessment

•          Pupil voice

•          Learning walks 

•          CPD

As part of our R.E. curriculum, each pupil will feel valued as an individual and their beliefs respected. In addition to this, children will develop respect for and sensitivity to others with different faiths and beliefs. This will enable all children to 'flourish together' within their communities and prepare them for our diverse world.