Britannia Community Primary School
Religious Education
Britannia CP School
RE Curriculum and Learning
INTENT
Britannia CP School follows the Lancashire syllabus, approved in line with the law, by the Agreed Syllabus Conference, SACRE and the Local Authority. This syllabus explains all the requirements for the RE curriculum in Lancashire schools. It outlines statutory requirements and also the programmes of study for each key stage.
At the heart of our syllabus is the quest to understand what it is to be human. By learning about and from religion we can become more open minded, respectful and achieve greater self-awareness. The skills and attitudes developed though RE can thus make a significant contribution to promoting British Values and developing community cohesion.
At Britannia School, Religious Education will be delivered in school to meet the agreed syllabus aims by:
- Including knowledge and reference to religious and nonreligious beliefs and worldviews, practices and ways of life.
• Develop knowledge and understanding of all members that make up our increasingly diverse community.
• As part of the syllabus at each Key Stage, visits to local places of worship are encouraged as are visits by members of SACRE and faith communities to local schools.
• Develop understanding of concepts and mastery of skills to make sense of religion and belief, at an appropriate level of challenge for their age.
• Develop positive attitudes and values and to reflect and relate their learning in RE to their own experience.
• Have the opportunity to learn that there are those who do not hold religious beliefs and have their own philosophical perspectives.
The syllabus has been created in a cyclical format to enable children to revisit and build on their prior knowledge of the different beliefs and practices taught across the school. The syllabus also allows for teachers to be flexible and adapt the term in which units are taught in their year group, to allow for cross-curricular links or involvement with parents or other members of the community.
IMPLEMENTATION
Teachers deliver RE in weekly blocks; one block per half term. Throughout EYFS – Year 6 there is broad coverage of the six main religions observed throughout the UK.
This syllabus, approved in line with the law by the Agreed Syllabus Conference, SACRE and the Local Authority, explains all the requirements for the RE curriculum for Lancashire schools. Religious education taught in our school (according to the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus Religious Education, revised 2016):
• Is open and objective, it does not seek to urge religious beliefs on young people, nor compromise the integrity of their own religious position by promoting one tradition over another.
• Endeavours to promote a positive attitude toward people, respecting their right to hold different beliefs from their own.
• Promotes the values and attitudes necessary for citizenship in a multi-faith and multi-racial society through developing understanding of, respect for, and dialogue with people of different beliefs, practices, races and cultures.
• Recognises similarities and differences in commitment, self-understanding and the search for truth. Respecting and valuing these for the common good.
At Britannia, we follow eight main principles for teaching RE;
- Respect persons.
- Value reason-giving.
- Practise reciprocity.
- Accept contestability and value self-awareness.
- Be open.
- Promote fair and accurate representation.
- Model life-long learning.
- Promote balance.
We begin teaching a unit of RE based around a focus question. This is then investigated through focus sessions following a specific order. The field enquiry needs to be carried out in the following order; Shared Human Experience, Beliefs and Values, Living Religious Traditions and Search for Personal Meaning.
Lancashire SACRE continues to work with teachers in improving the quality of teaching and learning of RE by providing training, and publishing updated schemes of work and materials and guidance to develop and support SMSC, Assessment for Learning and effective teaching and learning strategies.
IMPACT
At Britannia CP School, we seek to ensure that all pupils in our school are educated to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally to enable them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world.
Achievement and attainment of each child will be measured by comparing a baseline of knowledge taken at the beginning of the topic as well as smaller assessments ongoing throughout the topic. Teachers will provide children with ‘next steps’ and ensure that their weekly planning is adapted for the specific cohort. Book scrutiny will occur once termly to ensure quality teaching and learning is taking place consistently across the whole school. Assemblies and celebrations of work taught and learnt during each year group’s RE week will help to celebrate the diversity of the school community and promote positive images of people in the wider community, including their beliefs, traditions, culture, language and history.
Religious Education at Britannia:
Useful Websites:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/re.shtml