Religious Education

“Be the CHANGE that you wish to see in the world”  – Mahatma Ghandi

“We may have different religions, different languages, different coloured skin, but we all belong to one human race.” – Kofi Annan

Our School follows the programme of study for Religious Education  through the Wakefield Agreed Syllabus and has a scheme of work that is reflected upon this for each key stage. During RE children are taught knowledge, skills and understanding through learning about Christians, Muslims and Jewish People. We also have a celebrations calendar which runs throughout the academic year, celebrating festivals around the world through the eyes of different religions.

At Girnhill we start our Religious Education curriculum by asking children about themselves and their families. It is important to us that children have a secure understanding of themselves, where they come from and understand their own beliefs and family before we can begin to compare ourselves to others and other beliefs.

Religious Education at Girnhill is about providing children with the knowledge that although everybody is different there are many things about us that are the same. We hope we can develop empathy and a better understanding of different faiths in order to prepare our children for the future through our school values, particularly the value of respect and tolerance of others.

Intent

Early years outcomes, the National Curriculum programmes of study and the Wakefield agreed syllabus form the foundations of our RE curriculum. At Girnhill the intent of our RE curriculum is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more. As a result of this, they will become independent and responsible members of a society who understand and explore big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that they can make sense of religion, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.

We provide our children with opportunities for them to learn about religions and worldviews in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore, and consider different answers to these questions. They will be equipped with systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and world views, enabling them to develop their ideas, values and identities. Our children are encouraged to develop an aptitude for dialogue so that they can participate positively in our society, with its diverse religions and worldviews.

Implementation

Our Religious Education curriculum enables children to develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, recognising their local, national and global contexts through high quality provision.

We ensure teaching is highly effective by delivering a balance of child- initiated opportunities and adult led activities through meaningful experiences. Children develop knowledge through a wide range of activities which are differentiated to meet every child’s needs including; observing, handling, describing and explaining religious artefacts.

Children learn through making comparisons between different religions and celebrations and are shown how to respectfully show an understanding of differences.

Through using Rosenshine’s Principles theory to plan for and implement RE into our school, learners have the opportunity to revisit and build on prior knowledge. Daily review is used at the beginning of every session in order to activate prior learning to link new learning to. High-quality modelling of skills and language is offered to our children and scaffolds are provided from difficult tasks.

Questions are progressively planned for and are used to check understanding and allow children to apply their Religious Education knowledge. Classroom working walls also promote the vocabulary specific to current learning and modelled examples support and extend learning for all pupils.

Impact

Children have the knowledge and skills to begin to appreciate the differences between religious celebrations and religious practice.

Pupil voice will show that children can talk about and understand how people from different religions make up their community and to respect differences between them.

As a result of high-quality teaching, learners make sustained progress in RE and develop the competence express their own thoughts and feelings about religion and celebrations by showing mutual respect