RE Statement of Intent

RE Statement of Intent at Lord Blyton Primary School

At Lord Blyton Primary School, we value Religious Education. We want our children to love learning about religious education.

Curriculum Intent

Our religious education curriculum contributes dynamically to pupils’ education by provoking challenging questions. Pupils learn about religious and non-religious worldviews in order to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. They learn to interpret, analyse, evaluate and critically respond to the claims that religious and non-religious worldviews make. Pupils learn to express their insights and to agree or disagree respectfully.

RE offers opportunities for personal reflection and pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. It enables pupils to explore their own beliefs, ideas, feelings, experiences, and values in the light of what they learn. At Lord Blyton Primary, RE encourages pupils to develop their own sense of identity, promotes empathy and respect.

Every year some of our children represent Lord Blyton at the Remembrance Day service in South Shields.  The children actively take part in the service by laying a poppy wreath.  

During RE lessons the children develop an aptitude for dialogue so that they can participate positively in our society. RE enables pupils to have a nuanced and informed understanding of political, social, and moral issues that they will need to face as they grow up in an increasingly globalized world. It helps pupils deal positively with controversial issues, to manage strongly held differences of belief, and to challenge stereotypes and prejudice. As such RE is central to good local, national, and global citizenship. It makes a significant contribution to the active promotion of mutual respect and tolerance of others’ faiths and beliefs, a fundamental British value. It prepares pupils for life in modern Britain.

The Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in South Tyneside 2020 aims to ensure that pupils:

      • develop deepening knowledge and understanding about a range of religious and non-religious traditions and worldviews so that they can:

– be intellectually challenged and personally enriched.

– describe and explain beliefs and theological concepts.

– describe and explain some sources of authority and teachings within and across religious and non-religious traditions.

 – describe and explain ways in which beliefs are expressed.

 – know and understand the significance and impact of beliefs and practices on individuals, communities, and societies.

 – connect these together into a coherent framework of beliefs and practices.

      • gain and deploy deepening understanding of specialist vocabulary and terms.

      • know and understand about religious diversity within the region, as well as nationally and globally.

      • know and understand how religion can be defined and what is meant by the term ‘religious and non-religious world-views’ and with increasing clarity know that these worldviews are complex, diverse and plural.

      • gain and deploy skills that enable critical thinking and enquiry in relation to the material they study.

      • reflect on their own thoughts, feelings, experiences, ideas, values and beliefs with increasing discernment.

Implementation

At Lord Blyton Primary School we follow the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in South Tyneside 2020.  Our curriculum is predominantly Christian in nature with children studying 3 Christian topics per year group. Children will also study other core religions including Sikhism, Judaism and the Hindu religion.

Benchmark Expectations in the South Tyneside Agreed Syllabus will help teachers assess RE.

British values will also be promoted through RE teaching and should take place across the whole of school life in both the formal (subject) and informal curriculum. 

The fundamental British values are identified as:

• Democracy

• Rule of law

• Individual freedom

• Mutual respect and tolerance for other faiths and beliefs

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION will also contribute to the teaching of Literacy through oracy, reading and writing.

Our RE curriculum is based on:

Knowledge and Understanding of Religion

Critcal Thinking

Personal Reflection

EYFS

During the Early Years Foundation Stage RE is usually taught as part of a whole class topic and often relates to special times within the year. Children will be introduced to the idea of special days and festivals within religions and how these are celebrated. They will be introduced to ceremonies that show belonging. They will find out about special places and how they are used for worship. They will handle sacred books appropriately treating them with respect and learning their significance for the faith communities. They will listen to religious stories and begin to use some appropriate religious vocabulary.

Key Stage 1

At KS1 children will take part in enquires, finding out about religious and non-religious beliefs and practices using a variety of sources. They will be introduced to the beliefs and features of a religion and begin to use basic subject specific language. They will listen to and begin to re-tell religious stories. They will be given opportunities to raise questions and express their own views. They will be encouraged to reflect on their own ideas and feelings in relation to their learning.

At this Key Stage children will learn about Christianity, Judaism and Religious Diversity. They will be introduced to the beliefs and practices of these religions and investigate their impact.

Key Stage 2

KS2 pupils will build on their learning from the previous key stage.  Children in KS2 will learn about Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam plus Religious Diversity.  They will extend and deepen their factual knowledge of religious beliefs and practices and continue to develop their range of specific subject vocabulary. They will be encouraged to be curious and ask increasingly challenging questions about religion, beliefs, values, and human nature. They will develop their own reasoned opinions on the materials they have studied, identify relevant information, and use examples to back up their ideas. They will be encouraged to listen carefully to differing points of view and to be sensitive and respectful of these ideas. As the children progress through the key stage they will develop their confidence in order to investigate and enquire independently using a variety of sources.

The vast majority of subjects are taught discretely but staff will make meaningful links across subjects. Our RE curriculum and SMSC curriculum are often interlinked. 

Christmas and Easter

We will follow a whole-school approach to teaching Christmas and Easter, with each year group studying a different aspect/question of both celebrations showing progression.

Impact

By the time our pupils leave Lord Blyton we would hope that they;

have a love of RE.

are ready to progress to the next steps in their RE learning journey.

have a knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other core religions studied which can be built upon in KS3.

have a knowledge and understanding of non-religious / secular worldviews.

are able to describe how religious beliefs are expressed.

have a knowledge and understanding of the practices of the religions taught and the significance and impact these have on the believer, the community and societies around the world.

will know that beliefs can affect the values and actions of people.

will see the religion and non-religion in the world and will have the opportunity to make sense of their own place in that world.

are able to use an enquiry based approach to their learning; asking challenging questions and debating these drawing on the sources utilized to back up their viewpoints. 

are able to consider ultimate questions and issues of truth and meaning in both religious and non-religious terms.

to be able to reflect on their thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

will value diversity and develop respect and tolerance for other faiths and beliefs.