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Religious Education (RE)
Intent
At Netheravon All Saints we believe all children should leave our school with a rich understanding and respect for the world around them. As a Church of England school, Religious Education (RE) is a core subject and treated with the same rigour and focus as maths, English and science. As a rural school with a combination of static as well as transient military families, we understand that our children have differing experiences of religion and practices of faith.
Rooted in our Christian values of service, courage and faith, and from our bible quote 'Be bold; be strong, for the Lord your God is always with you' (Joshua 1:9) our RE curriculum aims to:
- develop children's understanding and awareness of the wider world, including beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, communities and cultures.
- learn the skills to explain how beliefs and practices can inform and change the way people see the world and the way they live and treat others.
- develop the skills to be sensitive to others’ beliefs, and express their views articulately and respectfully.
- become curious about the world and celebrate diversity and difference.
Implementation
In order to achieve our intent, we ensure children have opportunities to experience, reflect on and express their new learning in a variety of ways, thus developing critical awareness and the ability to view our diverse world with appreciation and wonder. To achieve this, and to adhere to the requirements set out in the statement of entitlement, all children receive a minimum of 5% curriculum time for RE.
We use the NATRE RE Today scheme of learning to support planning and delivery. Units of work are chosen to allow opportunity to learn about a wide range of religions and non-religions. This ensures a deep knowledge of the world faiths studied and allows children to think critically and explore their own understanding. Children at Netheravon are encouraged to think as philosophers, theologians and social scientists. Being a Church of England school, 50% of learning in all year groups is Christianity. In addition to this, year groups study the following:
EYFS – Hindu tradition, Islam and Jewish tradition
KS1 – Jewish tradition, Islam, non-religion
KS2 – Islam, Jewish tradition, Hindu tradition, non-religion, Catholics, Humanists, Sikh tradition, Buddhist tradition and Atheists.
By exploring religious theology, children are equipped with a deep understanding of the religions studied and are able to apply this when tackling big questions. We aim to develop a classroom environment where inquiry is the norm, where children are encouraged to look for alternative possibilities and to be open minded and flexible in their thinking. RE allows learning to be experience- and enquiry-based with teachers drawing upon a wide range of strategies to develop understanding. These could include:
- local visits
- specialist visitors
- drama and role play
- art
- writing
- group work
- debate, argument, discussion
Capturing learning is essential for future retrieval. Learning is captured in either individual exercise books or in whole class floor books. Displays celebrate learning and stimulate thoughtful exploration. Floor books are used to capture RE learning as well as spiritual moments of reflection across the curriculum, making the link between faith in RE and in other aspects of our lived experience. Floor books will remain with the class as they journey through the school, being built upon year after year, thus becoming a learning tool in themselves as a way of retrieving previous learning.
Developing secure knowledge of language is essential to support children’s enjoyment and progress in RE. RE language skills are developed throughout the school with specific new vocabulary highlighted in each unit Teacher Overview. Stem sentences provide a scaffold to support children’s thinking and articulation of their ideas. This vocabulary is included in unit Knowledge Organisers and taught explicitly.
Assessment takes consideration of the best ways for children to demonstrate their knowledge or core learning. There is no requirement for assessment in RE to be a formal piece of writing, as this may not be a true representation of the knowledge and understanding a child has of the RE taught. However, as part of the NATRE, RE Today scheme of learning, end of unit assessments are provided and teachers are encouraged to use these to support their judgements. Learning captured in individual exercise books or whole class floor books will act as evidence for teacher judgements against each statement.
Impact
Right of withdrawal
Pupils’ families and faith communities have the right to encourage religious nurture of the children, fostering their faith. It is the responsibility of the school to provide Religious Education for all its pupils.
Parents have the right to withdraw their children either partly or wholly from RE. In addition, teachers have the right not to teach the subject. Our approach to RE, however, has been constructed in the hope that parents and teachers will rarely, if ever, wish to exercise their right of withdrawal.
As stated in our school prospectus and on our school website, those parents who wish to withdraw their child from RE lessons should inform the Headteacher in writing or contact the school office at their earliest convenience.
Please click here to see our RE Policy:
