Religious Education

Religious Education Curriculum Statement:

At Dovedale Primary School, we believe it is important for all children to be exposed to different cultures and backgrounds that reside, not only in the United Kingdom, but also throughout the world. We recognise that a comprehensive Religious Education (RE) is one which can promote a mutual understanding of the multi-ethnic and diverse society that we live in, to ensure children are equipped with the necessary life skills to develop positive relationships in and around school as well as within the wider community.

As part of our whole-school curriculum, we value the importance of providing a clear Religious Education programme which focuses on the study of both religious and non-religious world views. Today, young people across Britain are growing up in a world where there is an increasing awareness of diversity and so we acknowledge the importance of allowing children to develop their own sense of identity alongside an awareness of the wonders of the world. Our curriculum provides rich opportunities for children to develop their understanding and knowledge of religion and religious beliefs, practices, traditions, and the influences of these issues on communities, societies, and cultures. It also enables pupils to develop and explore a range of responses to questions, identity and meaning and allows children to respect and build up tolerance for views which differ to their own.

Our Religious Education curriculum has strong connections with our Personal, Social, Citizenship, Health, and Economic Education (PSCHE) as well as our personal development (PD) offer. Working together, these curriculums promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils alongside developing an increasing awareness to their own emotional literacy. 

• Spiritually, the RE programme widens pupils’ visions of themselves and their own experiences.
• Morally, RE enables pupils’ to develop positive attitudes and behaviours towards other people in society based on social and cultural norms, rules, and laws.
• Socially, RE allows pupils’ to understand some of the major factors which shape our society and provides the necessary skills to interact with others around them.
• Culturally, RE teaches children important aspects of their own cultural heritage and allows them to respond positively towards diversity in our community and society.
• Emotionally, children are taught to appreciate the wide range of cultural influences around them and self-regulate their behaviour and actions towards those who are different to them.

When exploring Religion at Dovedale, we understand that Religious Education and collective worship are two concepts which are legally distinct. Our curriculum recognises RE as the educational process, and worship as the opportunity to take part in the affirmation and celebration of the values they have explored through their education. Whilst these concepts are separate in nature, occasionally, teachers may make links between collective worship and the purposes and themes studied within their RE lessons.

Intent:

At Dovedale Primary School, the intent of our RE offer is to expose children to different cultures and backgrounds that reside, not only in the United Kingdom, but also worldwide to ensure our pupils can understand and appreciate the world around them. We intend to raise awareness of different religious worldviews by exploring the life, behaviours, and traditions of Christians, Jews, Hindus and Muslims alongside the traditions and codes of living of non-religious worldviews; atheists, agnostics and humanists. Our curriculum design intends to reflect the overall aims, values, and ethos of the school by promoting the development of respectful, tolerant, and positive relationships both in and around school and within the wider community. Our intention is for the RE curriculum to support other curriculum areas, particularly that of PSCHE and RSHE to ensure social awareness and understanding is promoted and appreciated in our learning environment. 

Through our RE curriculum, we want all our pupils to:

• Celebrate the diverse and rich community at Dovedale Primary school and in the local and wider community.
• Develop the knowledge and skills to understand religious and non-religious worldviews, beliefs and traditions.
• Become culturally aware of the world around them.
• Develop curiosity and inquisition about each other’s beliefs and opinions.
• Ask thoughtful questions about the world and reflect sensitively on their own and others beliefs, values and experiences.

• Contribute towards creating a positive culture in RE lessons, where pupils have the confidence to share their thoughts, ideas, and opinions with others in a safe and sensitive environment.
• Develop the personal skills required to create and maintain positive relationships with others.
• Respect people’s differences and show tolerance towards the beliefs, religions, and life-choices of others.
• Express their own ideas and insights.
• Recognise where to seek information, advice, and support to make well-informed decisions and to keep themselves safe.
• Promote equality and understanding of the British Values and Protected Characteristics, ensuring they are prepared for life in Modern Britain.

Implementation:

The teaching and learning of RE at Dovedale Primary School is designed based upon the statutory objectives from the Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus 2020-2025. This syllabus aims for pupils to engage in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews can address. The curriculum is broken down into key questions which help pupils to develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise the varied responses to each question. The questions are broken down to cover one of the three core aims. 

• Believing - Know and understand a range of religions and worldviews, describing the beliefs and practices. 
• Expressing - Express ideas and insights about the nature, significant and impact of religions and worldviews.
• Living - Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage with and respond respectfully to different individuals and communities.

Curriculum leaders have carefully mapped out the curriculum offer by breaking down the objectives into progressive, sequential units to ensure there is clear progression of the knowledge, skills and understanding covered from Reception through to Year 6. Leaders have also ensured that each year group covers a range of worldviews 

Our curriculum is implemented to ensure all our children know more, remember more, and understand more. We achieve this by embedding learning at every opportunity, ensuring children are given the chance to revisit and review previous learning, whilst building upon their existing skills to move their learning forward. The progression of knowledge, skills and understanding has been designed in a way which ensures that it complements, and does not duplicate, content covered through statutory national curriculum subjects such as PSCHE and RSCHE. We have ensured that the themes of tolerance, acceptance, understanding and respect are interlinked throughout both our curriculums to ensure children can appreciate the diversity of the world we live in. 

The knowledge, skills and understanding covered throughout our progressive RE curriculum are not just taught in isolation, through discrete curriculum lessons. Instead, the skills behind RE are embedded throughout the school day and within our schools visions and values. We ensure that children are provided with ample opportunities to deepen their learning through wider opportunities, this is evident within our school assemblies, REACH values and through external visitors and trips such as the Open the Book team and local church visits. Children are also given the opportunities to participate in local and national initiatives including Harvest Festival, Easter and Christmas, Diwali and Eid.

To support our teaching and learning within RE, curriculum leaders have introduced an accredited scheme 'RE Today' which provide teachers with quality marked resources to compliment the content in the curriculum. Teachers access and the scheme of work as starting points for their planning to ensure learning is at the age-appropriate level and to limit repetition across year groups whist still covering the core religious and non-religious worldviews. Content within the scheme is mapped out using different key questions which teachers cover a block at a time. This enables children to delve deeper in content, make connections in learning and begin to apply learning across the different questions and religions. 

The religions covered in our curriculum are chosen in response to the latest National Census Report to ensure children develop an awareness and understanding for the people they will encounter in their local area and to prepare them for the wider world. Derbyshire Agreed Syllabus also priorities these religions and express the importance for children to have exposure to the most common religions to gain an understanding of diversity of their region, nation, and global community.

At Dovedale we break our coverage down into two themes - religious and non-religious world views.

Religious world views:

• Christianity
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Islam

Non-religious world views:

• Atheists
• Agnostics
• Humanism

Alongside the focus on religious and non-religious world views, opportunities to explore and express their own ideas and insights will be encouraged throughout all key questions and concepts.

The content of our RE curriculum is delivered within a safe and respected environment. Teachers demonstrate mutual respect with children, allowing them to take some responsibility for their learning by developing a set of ground rules which all children respect and follow in each lesson. In the classroom, teachers incorporate a wide range of teaching and learning strategies which include

In order to explore these views, children will be provided with a range of teaching and learning strategies:

• Handling artefacts
• Exploring scared texts
• Using imaginative play or drama to express feelings and ideas
• Responding to images, games, stories, art, music and dance
• Meeting visitors from local religious communities
• Making visits to religious places of worship where possible, and where not, making use of videos and the internet
• Taking part in whole school events- (multi-faith days, Harvest Festival, school performances)
• Participating in moments of quiet reflection, accessing the School Verse as part of a collective worship.
• Participating in Open the Book assemblies
• Using ICT to further explore religion and belief globally
• Comparing religions and worldviews through discussion
• Debating and communicating religious belief, worldviews and philosophical ideas and answering and asking ultimate questions posed by these.

Please click on the tabs below to see further information about curriculum design. You will find separate tabs to show you the scheme of work and knowledge organisers showing the content and coverage of our curriculum. Alternatively, please click on the attached documents below to see our schools specific curriculum progression map to find out what your child will be learning each year.

Impact:

Within our RE curriculum offer, we strive to instill all our pupils with an appreciation and respect for the culturally diverse world that we live in. We want our pupils to enjoy learning about other religions and why people may choose to or choose not to follow a religion. By the time pupils leave Dovedale we want our children to have the communication and personal skills to communicate with their local and wider community in a way which demonstrates tolerance and kindness. The curriculum will enable pupils to:

• Become respectful, tolerant, and responsible members of society.
• Achieve age-related expectations or above across the curriculum.
• Demonstrate a healthy and accepting outlook towards others.
• Demonstrate and apply the British Values and Protected Characteristics.

Whilst the RE curriculum does not require national or formal data, Dovedale Primary School understands the importance of assessing our pupils in a variety of ways to ensure children know more, remember more, and understand more. We recognise that through assessment we can provide a tiered approach to intervention, ensuring all our pupils receive the required support and strategies they require to live a happy, safe, and responsible lifestyle. We assess our pupils using the following:

• Baseline and Summative assessment – These strategies are used at the start and end of a unit of work. Children begin a unit completing a pre-mind map; this is completed as a whole class in EYFS and KS1 and individually in KS2. Children initially share their knowledge before their unit has begun and refer back to this at the end, adding newfound knowledge in a different colour to show progression.
• Flashback Teaching – Teachers incorporate flashback teaching at the start of every RE lesson. Teachers refer back to previous lessons and previous units to ensure children have good retention of the required skills and knowledge. Flashback teaching takes place through mini quizzes, class competitions, individual assessment questions.
• Individual class books – children evidence their learning (where appropriate) in their individual workbooks. Expectations in RE mirror that of our core subjects to ensure children understand the importance of the subject. Their books also evidence their learning journey, showing progress across the sequence of lessons and throughout the year.
• Marking and Feedback Sheets – Practical sessions and discussions are recorded using a one-page feedback sheet. Teachers are able to share any positives/points to be proud of, gaps in learning and next steps, showing learning is always revisited and built upon.

To ensure our RE curriculum is the most efficient and effective it can be, curriculum leaders monitor and measure the impact of the curriculum each term. Curriculum leaders use a triangulation of methods to cross-reference teaching and learning, this happens through:

• Pupil voice – Children are given the opportunities to feedback on RE lessons sharing positive, areas for improvements and suggestions moving forward. Pupil voice discussions also highlight retention of knowledge, skills, and vocabulary.
• Teacher voice – Curriculum leaders value feedback from teachers with regards to what’s working well and needs improving. This forms the basis for staff training and CPD to ensure teachers are always able to provide high-quality teaching and learning.
• Planning scrutiny – Curriculum leaders monitor the termly planning to ensure content is appropriate, sequential, and high quality.
• Book looks – Curriculum leaders monitor the content of teaching and quality of work produced, ensuring learning is age appropriate, progressive and without repetition.