Religious Education (RE)

Intent’

 

Jesus says: "Love one another as I love you." John 13:34

Our Christian vision drives all that we do at Eastry school. Our school family is committed to sustaining and growing a nurturing, learning community. We strive to promote a welcoming and open ethos to ensure all feel happy, safe and respected. We value each member of our community as unique individuals where all are encouraged and inspired to fulfil their God given potential.

Religious Education (R.E.) seeks to make a major contribution to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils by helping them to acquire the knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other major religions represented in Britain and the wider world. It also helps them to develop their own beliefs and values.

R.E plays a very important part in our broad, balanced and coherent curriculum to which all pupils are entitled to at Eastry C of E Primary School. The curriculum for R.E aims to ensure that pupils have opportunities to understand a range of religions and worldviews, express insights about the nature, significance and impact of worldviews and to develop the skills needed to engage with religions and worldviews. We hope to explore our school values of compassion and respect as we gain an understanding of others and become curious people about the world around us, showing empathy to others.

 

Implementation

Religious Education is a core subject at our school and is taught weekly.  At Eastry C of E Primary School, children and their families can expect a high-quality R.E/ curriculum that is rich and varied, enabling learners to acquire a thorough knowledge and understanding of a range of faiths and worldviews.

 

As a church school, the teaching of Christianity is at the heart of our R.E. curriculum. Through the Understanding Christianity (UC) resource, the use of an enquiry approach engages with significant theological concepts and the pupil’s own understanding of the world as part of their wider religious literacy.

 

Using the Kent Agreed Syllabus and the Understanding Christianity (UC) resources in line with Canterbury Diocese, we learn about other religions and worldviews, fostering respect for them. Our curriculum includes study of religious traditions learning from Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Jewish people.  

 

R.E. at Eastry endeavours to learn from encounters with living faiths rather than the history and belief structures of traditions.  UC is a spiral curriculum throughout the Key stage, where units of work are revisited in subsequent years.  70% of our curriculum is based on Christianity; the remaining 30% is focused on other world faiths and non-religious worldviews. 

 

It is our aim that R.E. is delivered in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner, which challenges children, enabling all children to flourish.

Links with our Christian values and vision, and support for pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development and to their understanding of British Values are intrinsic to our R.E. curriculum and have a significant impact on learners. We provide a wide range of opportunities for learners to understand and to make links between the beliefs, practices and value systems of the range of faiths and worldviews studied.

 

Big questions.

All our R.E topics start with a ‘big question’, the aim of this is to anchor all aspects of learning to reinforce personal identity and the present day, essential in creating self-aware individuals. As they develop we will strive to help them connect to the immediate environment/ community/ country until they are able conceptualise abstract themes such as tolerance or culture on a global scale: progressing thinking from ‘Me’ to ‘Everyone’.

 

 

 

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS):

In EYFS Staff act as facilitators for children's learning. R.E starts with adult directed input, and children are given a chance to respond in their own way. This is also supported through adaptations to the learning environment, adding enhancements to invite children to play and explore.  Children then engage in purposeful playful learning and staff will play alongside the children or step back and observe the children thrive independently. Staff know the children very well and are highly skilled in seeking teachable moments that will move children's learning forwards without interrupting play.

Key Stage 1:

Children build upon the foundations laid in EYFS and begin to talk about some simple ideas, retell stories, talk about issues that they face, ask questions, identify objects of importance to themselves and others and use creative ways to express their own ideas.

 

Key Stage 2:

As children progress into Key Stage 2 they begin to outline and clearly express ideas thoughtfully, they present different views and expand on their understanding. They explain the impact and give reasoning to their answers drawing on their knowledge and experiences. They begin to make connections and reflect on theirs and others beliefs.  They explore how does belonging to the faith community guide and influence everyday attitudes, responses and actions?   

 

 

Inspire Days

Our Inspire Days often delve into different cultures and celebrations, allowing children to explore and discover more about themselves and the global population. These change on a yearly basis to meet the evolving needs of the children.

Learning Environment

We celebrate our R.E. learning through our corridor displays. Within our classroom we show our learning journey in our R.E. topic through working walls.

Assessment

We assess every child throughout each lesson, teachers provide next steps through verbal feedback and written marking. We use the Canterbury Diocese assessment guides to support us in making summative termly judgements. We then sue these to plan for subsequent learning.

 

Impact

The children at Eastry C of E School enjoy learning about other 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, developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life. As such, R.E. is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.

Religious Education Knowledge Organisers - Facts and key knowledge taught in each year group

Our RE Curriculum

Religious Educations (RE) Policy