Our RE Curriculum

 

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was,

and when he saw him, he had compassion.

 

Our Curriculum Intent

In reflecting our whole school vision, RE in our school will be taught in a way that enables pupils to gain understanding of their own feelings and values as well those of others.  In understanding how other people live, our children will be better able to show compassion, empathy and love as part of a wider community.

 

All of our learners will have:

• An outstanding level of religious understanding and knowledge across a range of religions.
• A thorough engagement with a range of ultimate questions about the meaning and significance of existence.
• The ability to ask significant and highly reflective questions about religion and demonstrate an excellent understanding of issues related to the nature, truth and value of religion.
• A strong understanding of how the beliefs, values, practices and ways of life within any religion cohere together.
• The ability to link the study of religion and belief to personal reflections on meaning and purpose.
• The opportunity to participate in a range of school visits and exposure to visitors that allow them to see and hear interesting and differing views.

Our Curriculum Implementation

Our curriculum is designed using several key resources:

• The Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus for RE 2017-22, which provides an outline of the main concepts which pupils should learn and the expected outcomes for this.  Each topic taught to pupils focuses on different concepts, with coverage provided across the curriculum. 
• The Church of England’s Understanding Christianity resource provides the planning and key learning activities for most of the Christianity-based topics within the curriculum.
• The Discovery RE resource provides the planning and key learning activities for all other topics.

 

Each year, at least 50% of the curriculum is Christianity-based.  Other religions are studied as pupils move through the school; these religions represent all main faiths of pupils attending the school as of December 2020.

        

Each topic will last for around 6 lessons, depending on the length of the term.  Within these six weeks, the learning will happen in a number of stages, which are planned for in both the Understanding Christianity and Discovery RE schemes.

• Stage 1 – Engagement/Personal Reflection
• Stage 2 – Investigation/Making Sense
• Stage 3 – Evaluation/Understanding the Impact
• Stage 4 – Expression/Making Connections

Each class has an Owl toy, which is used throughout the teaching of RE.  Ultimately, this is used through the Discovery units as a way of asking pupils questions which involve reflection of key concepts.  However the owl can also be used by pupils to ask questions that they have.  

 

Our Curriculum Impact

‘How well have pupils developed the essential characteristics of a spiritual learner?

The outcome from the final two stages in learning will allow pupils and staff to assess their progress in line with the key concepts from the Hertfordshire Agreed syllabus.  Assessments are collated and progress is measured and tracked over time. This also supports teachers in identifying areas of strength and areas that may need additional support during the next teaching episode.