Religious Education
Religious Education
‘The roots to grow, the path to follow, the wings to fly.’
Intent:
At the Pathfinder C of E Primary School, we believe that it is vital for all our pupils to understand the role and purpose of our core Christian values in their lives; values that can apply to people of all religious and non-religious worldviews. We teach Christianity as a living and diverse faith, focussed on the teaching of Jesus and the Church, and as a Church of England School, Christianity is the majority religion studied in each year group, with 50% of curriculum time. Through high quality, coherently sequenced Religious Education (RE), we deliver a curriculum where all learn about a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, which enquires through the lenses of theology, philosophy and the human and social sciences. Our RE classrooms are safe spaces for all pupils to explore their own religious, spiritual and/or philosophical ways of seeing, living and thinking, believing and belonging.
RE has a high profile within our school curriculum and learning activities provide fully for the needs of all learners. Our learners are inspired by the subject and develop a wide range of higher-level skills such as enquiry, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and reflection to deepen their understanding of the impact of religion on the world. We hold the belief that all children have the entitlement to the same experiences and opportunities and as such our Religious Education curriculum is enhanced further with trips to places of worship and visits from significant people in our local area. We have the highest expectations of all our children, regardless of their prior attainment, and regardless of where they started their education.
Our intent is that all children should complete their primary Religious Education with the highest possible standards. We aim for all children to develop deep-rooted understanding and respect for those of all religions and worldviews; equipping them to persevere through the path of life as they navigate and challenge cultural and religious stereotypes, prejudice and extremisms; and enabling them to flourish, thrive and wonder as they step into the world beyond primary school.
Implementation:
Our Religious Education curriculum is aligned with the changing landscape of RE teaching nationally: placing disciplinary knowledge and worldviews at the heart of the curriculum. Previously, the driver of the curriculum was substantive knowledge leading to generalised knowledge that led to blanket statements for each of the major six world religions. Our new curriculum aims to shift to a more nuanced understanding of a more authentic reality of religion and belief.
At the heart of our RE curriculum is a recognition and balancing of three types of knowledge:
1. Substantive: the content we want children to know and remember
2. Disciplinary: how we introduce our pupils to the ways in which we engage with that content
3. Personal: How we help children use their learning to critically analyse their own world views
RE has lots of different disciplinary lenses. Our children are taught to think like a theologian, philosopher, and human/social scientist. Alongside being introduced to these lenses, children are introduced to the tools or skills these people use to help them answer these questions. The curriculum is designed to introduce children to the lenses, questions, tools and skills incrementally and to deepen this knowledge as they progress through the curriculum, so that they are supported to reflect and articulate their own personal views.
Throughout a unit, we always return and revisit prior learning both through retrieval questions and lookbacks so that the knowledge is revisited multiple times and in a variety of ways.
Monitoring is central to leaders and class teachers’ work. This is achieved through dialogue with pupils, in depth scrutiny of pupils’ work, monitoring of planning, lesson observation, end of unit assessment sheets and dialogue with staff. Through monitoring and evaluation, we have a clear understanding of pupils’ progress and standards and can address the needs of each individual pupil. Dialogue with pupils and scrutiny of pupils’ work provides a great deal of information about the effectiveness of the curriculum as well as its delivery.
We ensure that all resources used in RE are of a high quality and we prioritise the provision of high quality staff to deliver RE, providing ongoing professional development. We have a named member of staff responsible for RE. In addition to this, we have many links within our multicultural community which allows us to provide relevant and stimulating learning opportunities by engaging with visitors of other faiths and visiting sites of religious and cultural significance within our locality.
Impact:
We know that we have been successful in delivering upon our curriculum intent in RE, when children are able to articulate their understanding of the beliefs and practices of others and can apply their knowledge of these by considering them in their day-to-day interactions with others.
We monitor our RE curriculum both in terms of knowledge and skills based learning outcomes and through the development of the whole child. Teachers monitor the children’s Religious Education skills and knowledge through formative assessment against detailed learning objectives and assessment criteria. Children have the opportunity to present their learning in a variety of ways, including: concept mapping, extended writing and artistic responses.
Whilst spirituality cannot and should not be measured, teachers use their understanding of spiritual development to alter plans to allow for progressively deeper spiritual development. This can be seen within the deep conversations classes have and the questions which children raise to be discussed; and also with creative responses using different mediums such as art, music, drama and reflection.
Right to withdraw:
RE is provided for all pupils and is inclusive and broadminded. Parents and Carers do have the right to withdraw pupils from RE; if there is a wish to do this, please make an appointment with the Headteacher. The school does not support selective withdrawal from RE.
Get Involved:
We welcome religious visitors and respect their faith and contribution to pupils' learning. We recognise that our school community includes members of different faith groups, pupils from non-religious or secular families, and (within Christianity or other faiths) different denominational allegiances and would ask religious visitors to think through what they have to offer to all pupils. The sharing of insight, experience, belief and practice is appropriate. It is never appropriate to impose on members of the audience. If you feel you have insight, experience, belief or practice which you could share with our school community, please contact the school office.