Religious Education
VISION
To explore what people, believe and what difference this makes to how they live.
INTENT
At Cherry Orchard Primary School, the Religious Education curriculum is designed so that pupils gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, and to be able to reflect on their own ideas and ways of living - regardless of ethnic origin, gender, class, aptitude or disability.
Through high quality provision and a broad and balanced curriculum our intent is to:
• enable children to investigate and reflect on some of the most fundamental questions asked by people.
• understand how and why religious beliefs shape what different people believe and how they live.
• develop positive attitudes towards people who hold religious and non-religious beliefs different to their own and to prepare them for multicultural life in modern Britain.
IMPLEMENTATION
Our R.E. curriculum is designed around the Worcestershire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2020-2025 and is delivered to the children in a 2-year rolling cycle (see links above). Year 1 and 2 follow the same units as do year 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 in each cycle. Each unit is driven by a key question.
The curriculum focuses on three core elements: making sense of beliefs; understanding the impact of beliefs (how and why people put their beliefs into action) and making connections between pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world. These elements offer a structure through which pupils can encounter diverse religious traditions alongside non-religious worldviews.
Pupils study in depth the religious traditions of the following groups:
Reception
Children will encounter Christianity and other faiths, as part of their growing sense of self, their own community and their place within it.
to the school context.
Key Stage 1 Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Key Stage 2 Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews.
(Taken from Worcestershire Agreed Syllabus for Religious ,2020-2025)
Children are guided and given the opportunity to identify similar themes and threads which connect their learning. We make it possible for pupils to easily draw on their prior learning from previous units of study or look ahead to future units in order to make strong, relevant connections. This provides a sense of cohesion in their learning and enables children to know more and remember more.
Aims of the Syllabus:
EYFS RE sits very firmly within the areas of personal, social and emotional development and understanding the world. This framework enables children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others, and to learn how to form positive and respectful relationships. They will do this through a balance of guided, planned teaching and pursuing their own learning within an enabling environment. They will begin to understand and value the differences of individuals and groups within their own immediate community. Children will have the opportunity to develop their emerging moral and cultural awareness.
Key Stage 1 Pupils should develop their knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, recognising their local, national and global contexts. They should use basic subject-specific vocabulary. They should raise questions and begin to express their own views in response to the material they learn about and in response to questions about their ideas.
Key Stage 2 Pupils should extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, recognising their local, national and global contexts. They should be introduced to an extended range of sources and subject-specific vocabulary. They should be encouraged to be curious and to ask increasingly challenging questions about religion, belief, values and human life. Pupils should learn to express their own ideas in response to the material they engage with, identifying relevant information, selecting examples and giving reasons to support their ideas and views.
(Taken from Worcestershire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, 2020-2025)
IMPACT
The children will be empowered to become critical and reflective thinkers who will learn to live as global citizens in an ever-changing world by developing positive attitudes towards people who hold religious and non-religious beliefs different to their own and to prepare them for multicultural life in modern Britain.