Religious Education (RE)

Intent

At Heytesbury C of E Primary School, the aim of Religious Education (RE) is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Britain. We aim to understand the way that religious beliefs shape our lives and behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance our spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. 

We deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all, which will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they know, question, remember and understand more. We aim to enable our children to become independent and responsible members of a society who explore the big questions about life and who having learnt what people believe, can appreciate the difference this makes to how they live. Children will begin to make sense of religion, reflecting on and accepting their own ideas and ways of living.

Implementation

Religious Education is a statutory subject of the curriculum for all pupils in each year group and ‘should be provided for all registered pupils except those withdrawn at the request of their parents.’ We ensure that we comply with the legal requirements by following the Wiltshire agreed syllabus for Religious Education and Understanding Christianity.

Having taken into account the requirements and guidelines presented in the Agreed Syllabus, the following religions have been selected for study: Christianity – through ‘Understanding Christianity’. As Christianity is the main faith, 50% of the RE teaching time is dedicated to this area. We use Discovery RE to support out teaching and learning in; Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Sikhism.

RE is taught in termly topic based units within a rolling program and delivered within a weekly lesson. Four of the yearly units focus on Christianity looking at the strands of God and His kingdom, Creation and the Fall, People, Incarnation, Gospel and Salvation - the other two on either: Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism or Islam.

Each unit has a theme and a key question. Through an enquiry based approach, children develop their understanding and knowledge over the term in order to be able to articulate their own answer to the key question. Concepts are revisited at increasing depth as children progress through the school, embedding and developing previous learning.

Impact

Though the RE curriculum at Heytesbury C of E Primary School pupils gain an increasing understanding and knowledge of world faiths. In doing so, they begin to explore the impact of faith and religious tradition on behaviours and choices. This enquiry promotes pupils’ own personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and allows them the opportunity to reflect on, question and develop their own beliefs. Similarities and differences between religious beliefs are increasingly identified as is a positive attitude towards other people who hold religious beliefs different from their own.