Religious Education
Intent
We believe that it is vital for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them. Through religious education, pupils develop their knowledge of the world faiths, and their understanding and awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities, and cultures. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We enhance our religious curriculum with trips to various places of worship.
Implementation
At Whittingham, the Religion and Worldviews curriculum is designed to provide all children, regardless of their background, with:
- Coherent and sequenced substantive knowledge of religion and worldviews represented in Britain and the wider world, selected to build pupils’ understanding through three vertical concepts. These vertical concepts build a thematic narrative and provide context across diverse worldviews, as well as using small steps to help pupils gain a deep understanding of complex, abstract ideas:
Giving something up for the benefit of someone else is a recurring concept across religious & non-religious worldviews and takes many different forms. What motivates human action and what are the societal and personal consequences?
One of the unique qualities of human intelligence through time has been our quest for knowledge and meaning. How have religion and belief impacted on humanity’s search for “Truth”? How do beliefs impact human behaviour? What is it reasonable to believe?
Human beings exist in, and are influenced by, their place in time and their geographical, political and social context (Person, Time & Place). Everyone is different, so how have our diversities been influenced by our personal context? What influences a personal worldview?
- A Worldviews approach provides opportunities for all pupils to see themselves reflected in the curriculum, but also to be taken beyond their own experiences. The Religion & Worldviews curriculum teaches pupils about diversity within and between beliefs, cultures and worldviews from across the world, and seeks to teach the skills and knowledge to hold respectful and informed conversations about religion and belief; to be religiously literate.
- A conscious inclusion of vocabulary and substantive content that recognise the need to decolonise teaching materials in a meaningful and accessible way.
- A scholarly approach to the core disciplinary knowledge of theology, philosophy and social sciences, developing pupils’ ability to hold the types of conversation and to apply the methods and processes of theologians, philosophers and social scientists.
- A curiosity and open-minded approach to the worldviews of others and a reflective consciousness of their own worldview.
Impact
Our Religious Education Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Formative Assessment within lessons
- Pupil discussions about their learning - Talking to pupils about their books allows teachers to assess how much of the curriculum content is secure.
In our RE programme, children are challenged in their thought process to acknowledge, accept and understand different religions and ways of thinking. By visiting different places of worship in Walthamstow and other areas of London (add links to our EVs), handling different artefacts, and being immersed in culture, food, singing, dancing, and festivals, children will build up not only tolerance but a deep respect for our community and the wider world.
Curriculum Overview
Useful links for parents:
BBC Bitesize
RE Online
RE:Quest