RE at Appleby Primary School

INTENT

The teaching of RE at Appleby Primary School supports our children to express their views on beliefs and values. It raises important questions about meaning and purpose, religions and worldviews and the concept of right and wrong. These themes are explored and compared through a variety of units of work across the academic year. Our school follows the Agreed Syllabus for the teaching of Religious Education for Cumbria.

The aims of the Syllabus that are implemented at Appleby Primary School are:

• To develop children’s religious literacy, meaning that pupils will have ‘the ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religious and non-religious views.’ (Cumbria SACRE, 2023)
• To know about and understand a range of religious and non-religious worldviews by learning to see through theological, philosophical and human science lenses (explained further below)
• To express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religious and non-religious worldviews through a disciplinary approach
• To gain and deploy skills rooted in theological, philosophical and human sciences, engaging critically with religious and non-religious worldviews
• To be able to reflect on their own personal worldviews

RE lessons are taught through a disciplinary approach to learning, where the children are presented with questions that link to concepts either common to all, shared by multiple faiths or specific to a particular faith or group. These concepts are then explored in more depth by comparing and contrasting the impact on the groups and communities to which they apply to. The three disciplines embedded into our RE curriculum are:

• Theology: asking questions believers would ask by exploring places, stories and traditions.
• Philosophy: thinking through thinking- themes of right and wrong, morality and justice.
• Human sciences: how elements of religion and faith impact communities around the world, for example festivals, rituals and prayer.

IMPLEMENTATION

RE lessons at Appleby Primary School are planned and delivered in line with the Subject Content found within the Cumbria Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. Our RE lessons introduce the children to a range of beliefs and practices from the Christian, Hindu and Islamic faiths, whilst recognising that there are also individuals who do not follow a particular faith.

EYFS

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, RE lessons support the achievement of many objectives outlined in the Development Matters Curriculum, including:

Communication and language: listening to stories, answering questions about their own experiences and linking these to new ones they are introduced to.

Personal, social and emotional development: discussion-based activities that support our children’s confidence and their ability to link their ideas to emotions and behaviours.

Literacy: reading, writing and understanding simple sentences through the delivery of stories about special events that take place around different parts of the world.

Understanding the world: talking about events they have experienced and learning about similarities and differences between themselves and other people and communities, using their senses to explore artefacts and objects whilst learning about their function, importance and material.

Expressive arts and design: singing and playing instruments, experimenting with colour, pattern and shape in creative activities, representing ideas through different art forms including dance, drama and retelling stories.

KEY STAGE ONE AND TWO

Children in Key Stage One and Two are introduced to half-termly units of RE through discussion-based activities that support their self-confidence and their ability to interpret others’ ideas. Questions are introduced that begin group and class-based talk and debates. Drama and freeze-frame activities are used as a memorable way of empathising with characters and retelling stories that are special to different communities.

Vocabulary-based discussions are a powerful way of exposing the children to new language. They are given the opportunity to enquire about vocabulary they are unfamiliar with as well as practising what they already know. Subject-specific vocabulary is embedded through talk and both shared and independent writing. Word mats with supporting images are used to provide a context for this vocabulary and to ensure that it is used accurately and sensitively. Appleby has strong links with the local community; visitors are welcomed into our school to support the teaching of RE and provide a familiar context for the children’s learning to relate to.

Stories are shared with our children in RE to enable them to analyse similarities and differences between groups and faiths whilst remaining respectful to all. They also allow the children to identify and discuss the messages that arise from these stories and the impact that these have on individuals and communities, including our own school and locality.

Practical RE lessons at Appleby are enjoyable, memorable and help strengthen connections between the concepts we have studied. The children handle religious artefacts, explore their purposes and have a go themselves at creative activities which are also undertaken by different religious groups during special and celebrations.

IMPACT

RE lessons at Appleby are designed to enable children to connect taught knowledge and concepts to previous learning. The RE Syllabus for Cumbria states that progression is made through:

• Pupils’ abilities to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews.
• Being able to describe, explain and analyse beliefs and practices, recognise diversity within and between communities, investigate and respond to questions from sources of wisdom found in religion and worldviews and appreciate the nature and impact of ways of expressing meaning.
• Investigating key concepts and questions of belonging, meaning and truth, exploring how different communities can live together respectfully and explaining reasons why beliefs, values and commitments may be important in their own and others’ lives.
• Explaining ideas about how beliefs and practices influence individuals and communities, expressing personal reflections and responses to questions about identity, diversity, meaning and value and appreciating varied dimensions of religion and worldviews.