Intent
At Royston St. John’s, Religious Education has a significant role for the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Religious Education, like other areas of the curriculum, is underpinned by our school Christian values. Religious Education in our school will provide them with the knowledge and skills to ask and answer challenging questions, explore different religious beliefs, values and traditions. Children will learn to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape people’s lives and their behaviour and develop their ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues. Our intention is to promote religious understanding, respect and open-mindedness in our pupils to prepare for life in our every changing, multi-cultural society. We will challenge prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping. Pupils will be encouraged to develop their sense of identity and belonging through self-awareness and reflection, and so preparing them for adult life.
Implementation
At St. John’s we follow the Programme of Study for Religion and World Views as suggested in the Leeds and York Diocesan Agreed Syllabus and use the Understanding Christianity resource to deliver some of the Christianity units of work. Our RE curriculum plan follows three outcomes, making sense of texts/beliefs, understanding the impact and making connections. Across school, we learn about a range of different religions to develop our understanding of diversity, so each year group studies Christianity and one other religion in depth (Hinduism, Judaism, Islam or Sikhism and non-religious views). Throughout EYFS and both key stages, lessons are planned, developed and taught in a variety of ways ensuring that all children can access and participate in lessons. Interactive, practical and creative lessons encourage our children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions. We do this through drama, art, debate and discussion, poetry, questioning, music, prayer and reflection. In lessons, we ask life’s big questions and provide a safe environment in which to challenge ideas studied and learn how to discuss and debate respectfully. RE work is recorded in books and class folders in order to showcase the learning effectively. Children are encouraged to commit what they have learned to their long-term memories through regular retrieval practise activities.
The three outcomes covered during lessons are: Making sense of beliefs: Identifying and making sense of core religious and non-religious concepts and beliefs; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation. Making connections: Reasoning about, reflecting on, evaluating and connecting the concepts, beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas and the ideas to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these ideas and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world Understanding the Impact: Examining how and why people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world. Our long- term plan is a yearly plan which incorporates units of work from The Leeds/York Diocesan Syllabus and the Understanding Christianity resource.
Children gain a deeper understanding of the religion studied through experience and enrichment opportunities such as: handling artefacts, exploring scared texts , using imaginative play or drama to express feelings and ideas responding to images, games, stories, art, music and dance, meeting visitors from local religious communities, making visits to religious places of worship where possible, and where not, making use of videos and the internet, taking part in whole school events- (Spirited Arts, Harvest Festival, school performances) participating in moments of quiet reflection, using ICT to further explore religion and belief globally, comparing religions and worldviews through discussion, debating and communicating religious belief, worldviews and philosophical ideas and answering and asking ultimate questions posed by these.
Impact
Pupils’ progress in Religion and World Views is based on the expected outcomes outlined in the Leeds Diocesan syllabus and the Understanding Christianity document. Children will make progress in line with, or above that of other core subjects in school. This progress will be measured by end of phase outcomes (EYFS, KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2). Ongoing informal assessment and outcomes are moderated within school.
When children leave St. John’s, the expectation is that our pupils are religiously literate, and pupils are able to:
Give a theologically informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith.
Show an informed and respectful attitude to religions and non-religious worldviews in their search for God and meaning.
Engage in meaningful and informed dialogue with those of other faiths and none.
Reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.
Our children will be enabled to develop respect for and sensitivity to others and to those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own.