Religious Education

We understand faiths and worldviews

INTENT

At Haydonleigh, children are encouraged to explore different religious faiths and worldviews. We believe that it is an essential area of study which ensures children are well prepared for life in a world where there are a multitude of viewpoints. We believe understanding enables them to respect and be tolerant of people who have a faith as well as having no faith. We enable the children to discover different faiths and worldviews so they can make their own informed decisions and have the confidence to voice their views as well as listening to the views of others. Religious Education is a subject for all, whatever their own family background and personal beliefs.

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.

We want our children to enjoy RE and develop resilient responses to misunderstandings, stereotyping and division. We want to offer the children a place where difficult or ‘risky’ questions can be tackled within a safe but challenging context. RE nurtures SMSC development and pupils’ understanding of diversity.  The children discuss challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human

IMPLEMENTATION

We aim to provide our children with religious literacy where they will develop their knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other religious traditions and world views and explore their responses to life's challenges. This gives pupils the knowledge and skills to flourish both within their own community and as members of a diverse and global society. We use the agreed syllabus from the Swindon SACRE team to ensure continuity and progression of knowledge and understanding.

We shall help our pupils prepare for their future by:

• Developing awareness of the fundamental questions raised by human experiences, and of how religious teachings can relate to them;
• Responding to such questions by referring to the teachings and practices of religions and other belief systems, relating them to their own understanding and experience;
• Reflecting on their own beliefs, values and experiences in the light of their study.

During each Key Stage, pupils are taught knowledge, skills and understanding through learning about Christians and Jews through KS1, adding Hindus and Muslims and  in KS2 as well as investigating non-religious worldviews (Humanism).   Each unit of work identifies prior learning and shows how this is built upon. Children gain a deeper understanding of the religion studied through the use of high quality resources/artefacts.

The following skills are used, in order to strengthen the skills and deepen the understanding and knowledge taught: investigating, reflecting, recalling and retelling, exploring, discussing and empathising.  Children can discuss and compare the lives of people they have studied from a variety of different religions.

Attitudes which are fundamental to RE are: curiosity and wonder, commitment, fairness, respect, self understanding, open-mindedness, critical mindedness and enquiry. 

IMPACT

The children make progress by knowing more, remembering more and being able to do more. They need to transfer and embed key concepts into their long-term memory and apply them fluently.

 Children will make at least good progress from their last point of assessment. 

 We measure the impact of our curriculum in the following ways:

• Children demonstrate a positive attitude towards people of any religion and show an understanding of cultural beliefs different to their own.
• They demonstrate respectful behaviour to all and this is transferable outside of school in the wider community and beyond.

Religious Education coverage across the school - click here

Religious Education Roadmap - click here

Religious Education Knowledge Organisers - click on the table below to view

What does it       What do
mean to be a     religions
Muslim in            say when
Britain today?     life gets hard?