Religious Education

Easingwold Primary School – Religious Education Curriculum Statement

‘Excellence for All’

Outcomes for Pupils:

An unwavering ambition to ensure all children are equipped with the academic and social skills needed to be ready for the next stage in their education

Fostering a thirst for the acquisition of knowledge and recognising that learning is a life-long skill.

Embracing a culture of self-awareness and respect to allow us to grow as citizens.

Teaching and Learning:

Empowered creative and inspirational staff who inspire children to achieve highly.

Enabling our children to widen their horizons and aspire to personal excellence through the development of a broad and exciting curriculum which places experiences as a high priority.

Permitting the taking of risks by means of exploring new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

Intent – What do we want to achieve? 

The primary aim of our whole school curriculum is to provide ‘Excellence for All.’ To achieve this we want to develop children as curious, independent and resilient learners who have a secure understanding of themselves, their community and the wider world in which they live. We want them to have high aspirations and make positive contributions to their community and society. It is of the utmost importance to us that we provide pupils with indelible experiences from which they can learn and develop a range of transferable, lifelong skills. 

Our RE curriculum is designed to engage and enthuse learners.  We believe that it is an essential area of study which ensures that children are well prepared for life in a world where there are a multitude of viewpoints.  We enable the children to make their own informed decisions and to have the confidence to voice their views.  It is a subject for all pupils, whatever their own family background and personal beliefs and practices. 

We aim to develop pupils’ understanding of world faiths and other beliefs by exploring their commonality and diversity.  There is both depth and breadth of study.   The RE curriculum is also about ‘belonging’.  It aims to nurture pupils’ awareness of diversity as well as sensitivity to the questions and challenges that different views and cultures can present.  We all share a common humanity and we share our view of the world with an understanding of others’ views.

Implementation - How will we achieve this?

RE is taught as part of weekly subject focused lessons on a Big Question. Pupils learn about Christianity in each Key Stage alongside the other principle religions and non-religious world views represented in the UK today.  Our learning is based around 3 strands:

• Believing,
• Expressing,
• Living,

and the connections between them; encouraging learners to think about the religions and world-views of others respectfully.

Our EYFS children encounter Christianity and other faiths as part of their growing sense of self, their community and their place within it.  Their learning is linked to flexible focus areas such as special people, objects, times, places and books; which allows them to explore and develop their understanding of the world through experiences and stories.

In Key Stage 1 children focus on Christians, Muslims and Jewish people.  They begin to learn more about the beliefs, traditions and celebrations associated with different faiths.   Stories are again central to their learning and act as the launch point for many activities linked to the different faiths.

In Key Stage 2 this focus extends to include Hinduism and Humanism alongside thematic studies e.g. ‘Why do people pray?’, which compare the traditions and beliefs of different faiths.  At this point in their learning, the children begin to make more links between beliefs and the traditions of different faiths which they see in the world around them.  They learn to value opportunities for discussion, to present their point of view, be listened to carefully and to offer the same experiences to others.

The children are always encouraged to share their personal experiences of faith and belief.  This serves as a valuable starting point for class discussions and further fosters the development of our core values such as respect, kindness, friendship and tolerance.

Throughout the year, children have the opportunity to prepare and participate in services linked to Christian festivals at our local churches. 

• Harvest Festival is a time to give thanks but also gives us the opportunity to support the more vulnerable members of our communities through the donations of food which are collected. 
• Christmas celebrations are led by our youngest children, who retell the story of the Nativity and bring great joy to all! 
• Our Easter Service allows children to reflect on the importance of the events of Holy Week and to develop their understanding of how the arts – music, drama, poetry and prose – are so important in expressions of belief.

Impact – How do we know we have been successful? 

Our Religious Education is of a high quality, well thought out and planned carefully to demonstrate progression so that children know and remember more. It has been planned to have high expectations of all learners and demonstrate coherence and progression. If children are assessed to be achieving the lesson aims then they are deemed to be making good or better progress. We measure the impact of our curriculum through work scrutiny, pupil discussions and a reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes. Monitoring is undertaken by the subject lead and SLT at regular intervals and feedback is given to aid progress in Religious Education.