Religious Education

Intent

At Northfields Infants and Nursery School we want the pupils to engage in a concept based RE curriculum that leads to knowledge through enquiry and through this develop an understanding of other religions and cultures through the teaching of RE, allowing the pupils to become more inclusive, accepting and tolerant of others. We want pupils to develop a cultured world view that encourages them to self-reflect and develop empathy for others regardless of race or religion. Through their understanding of the concepts and their religious links we want the pupils to become further skilled in thinking critically, reasoning and justifying their own ideas about spiritual, cultural and moral concepts as well as being able to challenge the ideas of others in a respectful manner. The skills and knowledge gained through the RE curriculum underpin core British values. Our goal is not to teach pupils to be religious but how to better understand religion in the wider world. At Northfields we aim to introduce pupils to different concepts (such as special places and light as a symbol) and how these concepts relate to their own lives, individual experiences and starting points.

Implementation

At Northfields Infants and Nursery School the RE curriculum follows the Discovery RE scheme of work which includes enquiry modules covering Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism supporting teachers to deliver engaging and challenging RE lessons with confidence. Christianity is taught in every year group, with Christmas and Easter given fresh treatment each year, developing children’s learning in a progressive way.

The primary focus of RE lessons is the concept. Pupils develop knowledge through enquiry investigating around this concept. This means that the learning of RE is transferable into the pupils’ own lives regardless of their own religious beliefs.

Parents have the right to withdraw pupils from RE but will be encouraged to discuss their reasoning to help both parties to better understand.

Where possible, Units of RE are timed to match either the school’s curriculum or along with any religious festivals that are related to the unit taught allowing pupils to develop context for things they may see out of their school lives.

Writing is not the focus in the RE curriculum and pupils are encouraged to investigate the concepts in a variety of ways even including inviting religious visitors and visiting religious places. However, some writing for a real purpose is encouraged to reinforce cross curricular links with the school’s English curriculum.

Impact

At Northfields Infants and Nursery School we:

• Look at data (such as CPOMS) to stay aware of incidents where conflicts have occurred and challenge these views; using them as learning opportunities when practical and appropriate.
• Pupil conferencing – are pupils happy, engaged, challenged? Can they articulate the different concepts that have been taught and relate it to their own lives and experiences?
• Learning walks (including those with governors and external visitors) – do they show evidence of our intent in action? Are the pupils actively engaged in discussion about the different RE concepts?
• Planning – is it allowing pupils to gain knowledge and master skills, does it meet the needs of all learners? Is there progression between Y1 and Y2?
• Assess pupils at the end of the unit to ensure a depth of understanding and knowledge of the scientific concept taught. In each lesson the adults will be continually assessing each child’s progress to ensure misconceptions are identified and resolved within the lesson.