Curriculum Statement: Religious Education

Intent 

At Gisburn Primary School, we want our children to embrace religious education with wonder, curiosity, respect and an open mind.  We want our children to enjoy their RE lessons and embrace the opportunities to find out about the world and its people. RE enables children to learn from other cultures, respect diversity, cooperate with one another and appreciate what they have.  We want to prepare children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. A key to the importance of RE is the focus it provides for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  We follow the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus for RE which makes a clear and intended connection between RE and pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Implementation

Our curriculum has been designed to take into account the requirements and guidelines presented in the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus for RE.  The following religions have been selected for study: 

• Christianity
• Islam
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Sikhism
• Buddhism

Through an enquiry-based approach and first hand experiences, we seek to provide a curriculum that will promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of all pupils. Preparing them for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in later life. Religious Education will provide pupils with an opportunity to:

• Develop principles for distinguishing right from wrong.
• Promote equality of opportunity and enable pupils to challenge discrimination and stereotyping
• Develop pupils’ ability to relate to others and work for the common good.
• Respond positively to opportunities and responsibilities, to manage risk and to cope with change throughout their lives
• Approach with sensitivity and respect the beliefs, actions and feelings of other believers.
• Appreciate relationships between personal and shared religion.
• Develop appropriate ways of communicating their own thoughts, feelings and responses

We do not lead children to any specific faith but use RE to encourage pupils to learn and develop the positive attitudes of curiosity, wonder, appreciation, commitment, fairness and self-awareness to the beliefs and values of others. 

• There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff.  We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely.  
• All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community.  We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils.  

What does it look like?

 Early years:

Children may begin to explore the world of religion in terms of special people, books, times, places and objects and by visiting places of worship. They listen to and talk about stories. They are introduced to religious words where appropriate and use their senses in exploring religions and beliefs, practices and forms of expression. They reflect on their own feelings and experiences. They use their imagination and curiosity to develop their appreciation and wonder of the world in which they live.

Religious Education can make an active contribution to all areas but has a particularly important contribution to make to:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Children use some stories from religious traditions as a stimulus to reflect on their own feelings and experiences and explore them in various ways.
• Using a story as a stimulus, children reflect on the words and actions of characters and decide what they would have done in a similar situation. They learn about the story and its meanings through activity and play.
• Using role-play as a stimulus, children talk about some of the ways that people show love and concern for others and why this is important.
• Children think about issues of right and wrong and how humans help one another.

Communication and Language

• Children have opportunities to respond creatively, imaginatively and meaningfully to memorable experiences.
• Using a religious celebration as a stimulus, children talk about special events associated with the celebration.
• Through artefacts, stores and music, children learn about important religious celebrations.

 Understanding of the World

• Children ask and answer questions about religion and culture, as they occur naturally within their everyday experiences.
• Children visit places of worship.
• They listen to and respond to a wide range of religious and ethnic groups.
• They handle artefacts with curiosity and respect.

 Expressive Arts and Design

• Using religious artefacts as a stimulus, children think about and express meanings associated with the artefact.
• Children share their own experiences and feelings and those of others, and are supported in reflecting on them.

Key Stage One and Two:

 In Key stage 1 and 2, R.E. follows an enquiry approach.  Enquiry is active, not passive. In RE pupils are involved with an enquiry into what it means to be human. The active development of curiosity, investigative skills, and an enquiring mind will only occur from teaching which promotes vigorous thoughtful responses from pupils through:

• Open questioning to engage pupils in their search for answers to religious, spiritual and moral questions.
• Thinking skills, activities that enable learners to plan their own investigations, to apply knowledge for themselves, to deepen their conceptual awareness, to connect new knowledge to their understanding of the world and to become active students of religion and theological or philosophical thinking.
• Literacy for RE, using a wide range of different kinds of texts from religious sources and literacy activities from religions focusing on both speaking and listening and reading and writing to develop pupils’ literacy skills and to use these skills in the service of high standards in RE.

• Discussion, in RE discussion is often valued highly by pupils and is a key classroom tool, where listening respectfully and communicating clearly are skills and processes at the heart of good learning in the subject. Time for speaking thoughtfully and listening carefully should be built in to every unit taught.
• Visits and visitors, to enable planned and increasingly authentic, local and contemporary encounters with the religions studied.
• The four elements of Beliefs and Values, Living religious Traditions, Shared Human Experiences and The Search for Personal Meaning

Impact 

Through R.E. children learn lots about religions and why people choose, or choose not to follow a religion. 

Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to:

• Make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. 
• Develop an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life.
• Understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way.
• Begin to reflect on their own beliefs
• Begin to reflect upon shared human experiences
• Ask and offer possible answers to challenging questions about the meaning of life, beliefs, reality and morality.
• Have a secure understanding and knowledge of the religions studied and be confident to answer questions about them
• Show respect, tolerance and understanding of all religions and beliefs.