Religious Education

Our Intent

At Strand Primary Academy our Religious Education Curriculum is based around opportunities for all children to be involved in thought provoking and challenging questions in the meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong and what it means to belong to a faith.  At Strand we follow the SACRE Agreed Syllabus for RE that has been published as a joint venture by the local authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, North East Lincolnshire Council, North Lincolnshire Council and Hull City Council.

Through our Religious Education teaching and learning, we aim to ensure all children experience a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them; that they use their imagination and creativity and demonstrate their learning willingness to reflect on their experiences.

There are several other purposes of Religious Education. It allows students to express their opinions; teaches them to contribute to their communities; gives them political, social, ethical and environmental knowledge; provokes challenging questions; prepares them for future experiences and responsibilities; teaches them how culture affects religion; and most importantly, how to respect other people.

There are some of the factors that we think about when developing our pedagogy of RE, these are:

  • the culture in which we live and work
  • the life experiences of the children we teach
  • the filters used by teacher and school for understanding cultures and experiences
  • the teacher’s own beliefs and values
  • how success and progress are defined in RE

THE CURRICULUM KNOWLEDGE

The syllabus has three Statutory Areas of Understanding, the same for each key stage:

  • Beliefs and Practices
  • Identity and Values
  • Meaning and Purpose

All content in the Areas of Understanding is statutory and therefore must be taught. Each key stage builds upon the one before, so by the time pupils reach the end of KS2, they have had the opportunity to receive a broad, inclusive religious education.

We teach these knowledge areas in relation to our chosen religions. Currently we cover the following main religions through our curriculum.

Teaching PhaseReligion TaughtVisit
EYFS and KS1Christianity (KS1 – Islam)A Church
LKS2Christianity and JudaismA Mosque
UKS2Christianity and either Buddhism or HinduismA visit of religious or spiritual significance.

Throughout the year, we celebrate a range of festivals and religious celebrations. These are found on our planning pacing sheets or as part of our assembly timetable. Evidence of the children’s learning can be found in the SMSC/World Faith Celebrations section, at the back of their Religious education books.

SKILLS

The following skills are central to religious education and are reflected in the learning opportunities at Strand Primary Academy.

  1. Investigation – this includes:
    • asking relevant questions
    • knowing how to use different types of religious texts as a way of gathering information and how to approach those texts in a critical manner
    • knowing what may constitute evidence for understanding religion(s)
    • observing and listening
  2. Interpretation – this includes:
    • the ability to draw meaning from artefacts, works of art, poetry and symbolism
    • the ability to interpret religious language
    • the ability to suggest meanings of religious texts
  3. Reflection – this includes:
    • the ability to reflect on feelings, relationships, experience, ultimate questions, beliefs and practices
  4. Empathy – this includes:
    • the ability to consider the thoughts, feelings, experiences, attitudes, beliefs and values of others
    • developing the power of imagination to identify feelings such as love, wonder, forgiveness and sorrow
    • the ability to see the world through the eyes of others and to see issues from their point of view
  5. Evaluation – this includes:
    • the ability to debate issues of religious significance with reference to evidence and argument
    • weighing the respective claims of self-interest, consideration for others, religious teaching and individual conscience
  6. Analysis – this includes:
    • distinguishing between opinion, belief and fact;
    • distinguishing between the features of different religions
  7. Synthesis – this includes:
    • linking significant features of religion together in a coherent pattern
    • connecting different aspects of life into a meaningful
  8. Application – this includes:
    • making the association between religions and individual, community, national and international life;
    • identifying key religious values and their interplay with secular ones
  9. Expression – this includes:
    • the ability to explain concepts, rituals and practices
    • the ability to identify and articulate matters of deep conviction and concern and to respond to religious issues through a variety of media
  10. Collaboration – this includes:
    • the ability to work together and learn from each other

RE in our EYFS

Areas for inclusion in EYFS RE teaching

Children are introduced to the key festivals and special books, special people, places of worship, symbols and artefacts for Christianity and other religions studied KS1. They have the opportunity to visit a local place of worship.

Children are introduced to the concept of belief in a particular deity, the fact

that the name for ‘god’ varies from religion to religion and, as relevant to the religions introduced, that some religions have particular rules about naming god.

I Am Special (provides a starting point for all RE and introduces the concept of specialness)

  • What makes me an individual, what I look like, what I am good at, …
  • Similarities and differences between self and classmates…
  • Being treated as a special person
  • More than one person can be special
  • People I am special to

Special People (links to faith leaders and founders)

  • Family and friends
  • People who help us
  • People who have special jobs, including within places of worship*

Special Times (links to worship and festivals)

  • Special to me – birthdays
  • Special to lots of people – Christian festivals, Harvest, Christmas, Easter + others*

Special Places (links to places of worship, including places within the home, and the world as a special place)

  • Special to me – my home, my classroom, my favourite places
  • Special to all of us – classroom, school
  • Special to lots of people – Christian places of worship (churches) + others*
  • The world as a special place


Special Books (links to sacred texts)

  • Special to me – my favourite books, books that have been given to me
  • Special to my class/school – class/school books
  • Special to lots of people – sacred texts linked to Christianity (the Bible) + others*

Special Objects (links to religious artefacts and symbols)

  • Special to me – my special things
  • Special to my class/school – class/school bears, school badge, …
  • Special to lots of people – artefacts and symbols linked to Christianity (the cross, the font) + others*