Religious Education

Religious Education Intent, Implementation and Impact 

 

Intent  

The intent of our RE curriculum at Thirsk Community Primary School is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child. Religious Education has a significant role for the development of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. It promotes respect and open-mindedness towards others with different faiths and beliefs and encourages pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging through self-awareness and reflection. 

Our RE curriculum follows the North Yorkshire SACRE RE Agreed Syllabus. Both religious and non-religious beliefs are covered with pupils to enable them to develop understanding and tolerance to a variety of beliefs that they are likely to encounter in the wider community, some of which might differ to their own.  

 

How is our intent implemented in the classroom? 

Each RE unit of work will be carefully sequenced and explicitly covered by each year group; these objectives will, at times, be linked to an RE Enrichment Week or taught as individual lessons. By doing so, we hope to present new knowledge and concepts to pupils in a meaningful and challenging context. We also hope to enable pupils to make clear links with their learning and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.  

All learning will start with revisiting prior knowledge to ensure that the pupils have a secure understanding of the content covered so far. This firm knowledge basis will enable pupils to build on this and make important connections to new learning. Staff will model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. Teachers will use images and artefacts to enhance learning. Visitors from other faiths will be invited into school to speak to the children, and a variety of places of worship will be visited. 

Discussion-based tasks will be a key component within each unit, enabling pupils to develop their confidence when participating in group discussions whilst staff model and encourage ‘active listening’ skills and respect for other people’s beliefs.  

Written or art-based tasks will then be facilitated to encourage reflection linked to the class discussion and this will give all pupils an opportunity to express their own thoughts and beliefs on the relevant content.  

RE assessment is ongoing throughout the relevant units to inform teachers with their planning, lesson activities and differentiation. Summative assessment is completed at the end of each unit. 

 

What is the impact?  

The children of Thirsk Community Primary will enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose, or choose not to, follow a religion. Through their RE learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. The children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate.             

Pupil voice takes place regularly to enable leaders to assess the impact of the RE curriculum and to act as a tool to assess the depth of pupil understanding and knowledge. Book monitoring throughout all year groups also takes place to compliment this.