Overview
At St. Ann’s Well Academy we are proud of our diverse school community. Within our community, there is a wealth of religious backgrounds and worldviews. Therefore, it is our duty to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and the Fundamental British Values in our curriculum. By teaching R.E., we are preparing pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in future roles within the global community.
The aim of our curriculum is to create responsible citizens who can make informed opinions and judgments. R.E. is taught is a safe environment. In our lessons, an open-mindedness environment is created where tolerance towards others with different faiths and beliefs is promoted. At our school, the pupils are provided with balanced knowledge that is built on throughout each key stage and pupils are given the opportunity to take part in meaningful experiences linked closely to our local community.
R.E. enables pupils to study different worldviews (religious and non-religious). The purpose of RE is to enable pupils to become religiously literate or to develop their existing religious literacy. RE enables pupils to have “The ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews.” At our school, this is achieved via a balanced curriculum that explores:
- Theology – this is about believing (Believing)
- Philosophy this is about thinking (Thinking)
- Social and human sciences – this is about living (Living)
Intent
The R.E. intent is to deliver a balanced R.E. curriculum, which develops the skills, knowledge and understanding of pupils in order for them to:
- develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of principal religions, worldviews and religious traditions that examine these questions, fostering personal reflection and spiritual development
- engage pupils in enquiring into and exploring questions arising from the study of religion and world views
- actively promote their personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
- actively promote and in-bed the Fundamental British Vales
- encourage pupils to explore and celebrate their own beliefs, traditions and views (whether they are religious or non-religious) in order to develop their own sense of identity, belonging, significance and understanding of their own beliefs and values
- To enable learners to become aware of their own beliefs and values to enable them to have a positive attitude in life
- encourage pupils to consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others and to explore how they might contribute to their communities and to wider diverse society now and in adulthood
- examine issues of religious belief and faith and how these impact on personal, institutional and social ethics
- develop their understanding of the ways in which worldviews influence people in their behaviour, practices and outlook
- express their personal experience and viewpoints in a safe context and see that their religion or belief is valued and respected; developing the ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews
- develop respect for others, including people with different faiths and beliefs, helping to challenge prejudice and discrimination, encouraging pupils to show empathy, forgiveness, generosity and compassion
- respectfully challenge their own and other people’s views, (including media misrepresentations of religion) making independent judgements by responding respectfully, maturely and deeply to challenging concepts
- develop an understanding and appreciation for the expression of beliefs, cultural practices and influence of principle religions and worldviews in the local, national and wider global community. Thus improving community cohesion
- encourage learners to respect and develop a positive attitude towards other people who have beliefs, worldviews and traditions different from their own
Implementation
The structure of our curriculum allows children to learn about the 3 different types of knowledge:
In our school, R.E. is taught either weekly or during a R.E. day. We have 4 Key 4 key concepts ‘God’, ‘Community’, ‘Life Journey’ and ‘Being Human’:
1. God: What do people believe about God?
2. Being human: How does faith and belief affect the way people live their lives?
3. Community, worship and celebration: How do people express their religion and beliefs?
4. Life journey: rites of passage: How do people mark important events in life?
What is studied at our school?
In the Foundation Stage, R.E. is study through different festivals throughout the year.
At Key Stage 1 pupils must study Islam and Christianity
At Key Stage 2 pupils must study Christianity, Islam and Hinduism
- Other religions, beliefs and worldviews are be studied alongside the core religions as a point of comparison, but not as the main focus of study.
- In Y6, they have a key focus on Judaism linking to World War II.
Legal requirements
R.E. is a legal requirement. A minimum 5% of curriculum time is required for teaching R.E. and every year group should be accessing the R.E. curriculum, unless a pupil is withdrawn from the session by their parent or guardian.
Trips and visitors
Every year group is actively encouraged to go on trips to a R.E. trip and to invite visitors into their classrooms in order to enhance their first-hand experience of R.E.
Assessment
After each half term, R.E. is assessed on DC Pro. Throughout each lesson, teachers uses on-going assessment for learning to assess the needs of the pupils.
Aspirations for the Future
Pupils develop an understanding of how subjects and specific skills are linked to future jobs.
Here are some of the jobs you could aspire to do in the future:
- Chaplain
- Higher education lecturer
- Teacher
- Priest, vicar or minister
- Advice worker
- Charity fundraiser
- Charity officer
- Community development worker
- Equality, diversity and inclusion officer
- Mediator
- Counsellor
- Newspaper journalist
- Youth worker