Religious Education (RE)

At West Ashton Church of England Primary School, the aim of Religious Education is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions and world-views represented in Great Britain.

Intent

Through RE at West Ashton, strong links are made with our school vision  ‘To shine among them like stars in the sky’ and our ethos of Aspire, Believe, Celebrate. In addition, strong links are made with our six school Christian values that are the foundation of our Christian belief in school. These are Agape, Hope, Wisdom, Thankfulness, Friendship and Koinonia. We use our RE teaching and learning as a unique and crucial opportunity to further live our vision, and teach and instil our values in our young people.

Our principal aim of religious education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.

We aim to understand the way that religious beliefs and world-views shape our lives and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance our spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  We can organise our aims into three broad sections, as can be seen below.

A) Know about and understand a range of religions and world-views, so that they can:

• describe, explain and analyse beliefs and practices, recognising the diversity which exists within and between communities and among individuals;
• identify, investigate and respond to questions posed and responses offered by some of the sources of wisdom found in religions and world-views; and
• appreciate and appraise the nature, significance and impact of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning.

B) Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and world-views, so that they can:

• explain reasonably their ideas about how beliefs, practices and forms of expression influence individuals and communities;
• express with increasing discernment their personal reflections and critical responses to questions and teachings about identity, diversity, meaning and value, including ethical issues; and
• appreciate and appraise varied dimensions of religion or a world-view.

C) Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and world-views, so that they can:

• find out about and investigate key concepts and questions of belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, responding creatively;
• enquire into what enables different individuals and communities to live together respectfully for the wellbeing of all; and
• articulate beliefs, values and commitments clearly in order to explain why they may be important in their own and other people’s lives.

Implementation

Religious Education is a statutory subject of the curriculum for all pupils in each year group and ‘should be provided for all registered pupils except those withdrawn at the request of their parents.’ We ensure that we comply with the legal requirements by following the NATRE-approved, RE Today Primary RE Curriculum with a syllabus designed and adapted specifically for the Acorn Education Trust. 

Religious Education is taught on a weekly basis, but is sometimes delivered through a class or whole school RE day. As a church school, we believe that RE is a core subject and is taught by the class teacher as it is important that the whole school community values it as such. The curriculum has been developed to ensure progression in knowledge, skills and vocabulary whilst also contributing to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

At West Ashton, we teach RE for at least an hour a week in all year groups. This is supplemented by additional opportunities for retrieval and reflection, including visits, experiences and links to Collective Worship.

Learning and teaching in RE

A wide range of imaginative teaching methods and pupil groupings should be used in effective RE sessions. Our agreed syllabus, sets out an underlying teaching and learning approach, whereby pupils encounter core concepts in religions and beliefs in a coherent way, developing their understanding and their ability to handle questions of religion and belief.  

The teaching and learning approach has three core elements, which are woven together to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religions and beliefs, underpinning our aims of RE. Teaching and learning in the classroom will encompass all three elements, allowing for overlap between elements as suits the religion, concept and question being explored.

Impact

The children at West Ashton Church of England Primary School enjoy learning about other religions and world-views and why people choose, or choose not, to follow a religion or hold a particular belief system. 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.

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

SMSC prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. Learning about and from religions and beliefs, through the distinct knowledge, understanding and skills contained in RE within a broad-based curriculum, is essential to achieving these aims. Exploring the concepts of religion and belief and their roles in the spiritual, moral and cultural lives of people in a diverse society helps individuals develop moral awareness and social understanding. Also refer to the Spirituality Policy.

The promotion of British Values

RE provides opportunities to promote the British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.

The children at West Ashton Church of England Primary School enjoy learning about other religions and world-views and why people choose, or choose not, to follow a religion or hold a particular belief system. 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.

We plan for pupils to make progress across all aims of RE by following our progressive syllabus. The built-in progression in knowledge, skills and vocabulary, ensures that we can fulfil our aims and that children make the expected progress throughout their time at our school.