The importance of Religious Education

Religious Education is central to the purpose of Condover because, as a church school, we see that the Christian faith informs all aspects of our lives, locally, nationally and through global contexts. We create learning opportunities in Religious Education that will inspire, enthuse and motivate children in their exploration of religions. Religious Education supports and strengthens our Christian vision, ethos and values, which are at the heart of what we aim to do in every aspect of school life. The importance of the whole child, spiritually, morally, culturally and intellectually is reflected in our RE curriculum.

At Condover, we aim to enable all pupils to:

• make sense of a range of religious and non-religious beliefs

• reflect about their own beliefs

• reflect upon the experiences and mysteries of life and to recognise the significance of awe and wonder in religious belief

• understand the impact and significance of religious and non-religious beliefs

• explore how belief can be expressed in a variety of ways

• learn from religious and ethical teaching enabling reasoned and informed judgements on religious moral issues

• make connections between religious beliefs, concepts, practices and ideas

• recognise and respect the religious moral choices of others

• develop a respect and understanding of other religions, cultures and traditions

• be confident to challenge and be challenged through informed discussion

• develop a caring attitude to members of the school community and to the wider community

 

Teaching and learning

At Condover, RE is taught on a weekly basis, but occasional enrichment days to support Christian festivals such as harvest and Easter offer more teaching time. The allocation for Religious Education will be at least 5% of the curriculum time.

EYFS: 36 hours, 50 minutes a week either in short sessions or implemented through continuous provision

KS1 36 hours, an hour a week

KS2 45 hours, an hour a week or a series of RE days/weeks amounting to 45 hours

The scheme of work for RE maintains a balance between the three core elements of Making Sense, Understanding the Impact and Making Connections. There are clear outcomes for all units of work, based on the appropriate expectations as set out in the RE syllabus. The scheme of work ensures that there is continuity and progression for pupils and opportunities for assessment. We employ a variety of teaching methods to ensure Religious Education is a lively, active subject. These include discussions, recording, drama, art, music, the use of artefacts, stories, visits and periods of stillness and reflection. We include activities that challenge pupils, promote independent enquiry, promote creative thinking, enable collaboration and enable opportunities for pupils to organise and reflect upon their own learning. Our teaching enables children to extend their own sense of values and promotes their spiritual growth and development. We encourage children to think about their own views and values and enable children to build on their own experiences. Where possible, we want our pupils to have opportunities to encounter local faith communities through visits to places of worship or visits from members of local faith communities.

Assessment and monitoring

There are numerous ways in which our children demonstrate that our RE curriculum is effective, for example the quality of responses in their RE books, their verbal responses, photos, their reflections, their use of quality questions, the ability to make links/connections and through pupil voice.

Assessment is related to End of Phase Outcomes, which focus on knowledge, understanding and skills. Within each unit of work, learning outcomes are presented that

relate to the End of Phase Outcomes. These unit learning outcomes are specifically related to the knowledge and skills required to address key questions and relate to the three elements of the teaching and learning approach-Making Sense of Beliefs, Understanding the Impact and Making Connections. The spiral nature of the curriculum means that pupils will encounter some of the same concepts in different questions at different stages. Exploring the same concepts again, from a different perspective and using different materials is essential to support pupils’ ability to connect ideas and develop a coherent understanding of religion and belief, consolidating and embedding learning.

During Religious Education lessons, learning objectives are shared with the children and pupils are encouraged to develop skills to enable them to self- assess their own progress and to understand how to improve their work in RE. At the beginning of each lesson children complete a flashback question or activity in order to check on previous learning. Throughout the unit, teachers should be aware of how far pupils achieve the outcomes, so as to guide their next steps in teaching and learning. Each teacher is responsible for regular formative assessment, through questioning, observation and marking. Children have the opportunity to deepen their thinking through challenge questions. RE is assessed against the end of phase outcomes in order to make an overall judgement as to whether children are: working towards, at expected, at greater depth. Progress is tracked on Insight. Parents receive an annual report containing attainment and progress in Religious Education. The RE co-ordinator monitor RE through lesson observation and book/planning scrutiny, pupil discussions, learning walks. The member of the Local Academy Board with a special interest in Religious Education supports this work by meeting with the RE Co-ordinator and other staff, joining lessons and looking at books and planning.