Market Drayton Infant & Nursery School
‘An excellent, happy school, where we enjoy learning’
Religious Education
Intent
Our Values in R.E.
Collaboration | Respect |
Working together in groups to explore things before we come up with ideas.
We try and think about the different religions people might follow and get them to talk to us about their beliefs, as well as having close links with the local churches.
We have the opportunity to visit and explore different places of worship across a range of beliefs.
The work that we do enables the Junior school to pick up from what we have taught. We use a spiral curriculum to revisit prior learning and experiences to build upon them. |
We expose ourselves to many different religions and point of view. This is important to give the children a wider view of the world and to show how diverse the UK is compared to Market Drayton.
Understanding that we don’t all share the same beliefs and values. Respecting the values, ideas and beliefs of others whilst not imposing our own others. For example: embracing diversity; the importance of religion, traditions, cultural heritage and preferences; tackling stereotyping, labelling, prejudice and discrimination.
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Aspirations | Positivity |
Protection of your rights and the right of others you work with. For example: Equality and human rights, personal development, respect and dignity rights, choice, consent and individuality values and principles.
Preparing our pupils to be well rounded tolerant citizens who have been exposed to many differing cultures and beliefs equipping them the understanding of others experiences in later life. |
All children are encouraged to participate in discussion.
RE is fun because we get exposed to new things!
When we get to return to the same topics previously covered, each time building on our knowledge and understanding.
We are accepting of other people’s beliefs. We learn that it is okay to have differing opinions around belief and ways of life and we adopt a positive attitude towards one-another. |
How have we designed our R.E. curriculum?
Our R.E. syllabus responds to national calls for deepening pupils’ knowledge about religions and for developing their ‘religious literacy’. It does this by studying one religion at a time (‘systematic’ units), and then including ‘thematic’ units, which build on learning by comparing the religions, beliefs and practices studied. The teaching and learning approach has three core elements, which are woven together to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religions and beliefs, underpinning the aims of RE.
Our teaching contributes dynamically to children and young people’s education by provoking challenging questions about meaning, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong, caring for the natural world and what it means to be human. They will be introduced to an extended range of sources and subject-specific vocabulary. Our teaching equips pupils with systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and beliefs, enabling them to develop their ideas, values and identities. Pupils learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response and to agree or disagree respectfully. We enable pupils to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.
Children develop a sound knowledge not only of Christians but also of other religious groups, especially Muslims, Jews and non-religious groups.
Our teaching and learning styles in RE enable children to build on their own experiences and extend their knowledge and understanding of religious traditions and beliefs. We use their experiences at religious festivals such as Easter, Passover, Eid etc. to develop their religious thinking.
Implementation
How do we deliver the R.E. curriculum?
RE in the Early Years
Religious Education is not taught as a subject in Early Years. However, there are aspects of a child’s development that help them to start thinking about similarities and differences between people, celebrations and the world around them in order to start to make sense of their lives. The two main areas where this is included are in personal development and knowledge of the world.
Personal Development
Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Through modelling and supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.
Birth to 3 Children will be learning to: | Examples of how we support this: |
Notice and ask questions about differences, such as skin colour, types of hair, gender, special needs and disabilities, and so on. | We are open to what children say about differences and answer their questions straightforwardly. We help children develop positive attitudes towards diversity and inclusion. We help all children to feel that they are valued, and they belong. |
3 and 4 Year Olds will be learning to: | Examples of how we support this: |
Develop their sense of responsibility and membership of a community. | We give children tasks that are age appropriate to carry out, for example, they work together to help to give out the fruit and pour drinks. They work together to clear up after their play based sessions. |
Become more outgoing with unfamiliar people, in the safe context of their setting. | We invite trusted people into the setting to talk about and show the work they do. We have the vicar in to talk about harvest and Easter. We invite parents in to sing Christmas carols together, sharing a hot chocolate and minced pie. |
Show more confidence in new social situations. | We take children out on short walks around the neighbourhood. When ready, take them on trips to interesting places like a local farm, theatre or place of worship. |
Understanding the World
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world.
Birth to 3 Children will be learning to: | Examples of how we support this: |
Make connections between the features of their family and other families.
| We are open to children talking about differences and what they notice. For example, when children ask questions like: “Why do you wear a scarf around your head?” or “How come your hair feels different to mine?” We point out the similarities between different families, as well as discussing differences. |
Notice differences between people.
| We model positive attitudes about the differences between people, supporting children’s acceptance of difference. We have resources which include:
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3 and 4 Year Olds will be learning to: | Examples of how we support this: |
Continue to develop positive attitudes about the differences between people. | We ensure that resources reflect the diversity of life in modern Britain. We encourage children to talk about the differences they notice between people, whilst also drawing their attention to similarities between different families and communities. We answer their questions and encourage discussion. We talk positively about different appearances, skin colours and hair types. We celebrate and value cultural, religious and community events and experiences, such as Chines New Year, Diwali and the Christmas Story. We help children to learn each other’s names, modelling correct pronunciation. |
R.E. - Reception to Year 6
In November 2021, Market Drayton Infant and Junior Schools, adopted the R.E. today SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education 2021-26) agreed syllabus. This works alongside the understanding Christianity planned units.
The R.E. curriculum sets out a clear breadth of what will be covered:
Long Term R.E. Plan
| Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Unit 4 | Unit 5 | Unit 6 |
FS2 | F4 Being special: where do we belong? | F2 Why is Christmas special for Christians? | F1 Why is the word ‘God’ so important to Christians? |
F3 Why is Easter special to Christians? | F5 What places are special and why? |
F6 What times/stories are special and why? |
Year 1 | 1.10 What does it mean to belong to a faith community? | 1.1 What do Christians believe God is like? | 1.7 Who is Jewish and how do they live? | 1.2 Who do Christians say made the world? | 1.9 How should we care for the world and for others, and why does it matter? (C, J, NR) | |
Year 2 | 1.6 Who is a Muslim and how do they live? | 1.3 Why does Christmas matter to Christians? | 1.6 Who is a Muslim and how do they live? Part 2. | 1.5 Why does Easter matter to Christians? | 1.4 What is the ‘good news’ Christians believe Jesus brings? | 1.8 What makes some places sacred to believers? (C,M) |
The long term plan is colour coordinated to show a spiral curriculum, revisiting religions to allow children to build their knowledge using prior learning.
Christianity (understanding Christianity units) |
Judaism |
Islam |
Non-religious groups and 'big' questions |
The teaching and learning approach has three core elements, which are woven together to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religions and beliefs, underpinning the aims of RE. These three core elements are:
1. Element 1: Making sense of beliefs. Identifying and making sense of religious and non-religious beliefs and concepts; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority (such as texts) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.
2. Element 2: Understanding the impact. Examining how and why people put their beliefs into practice in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.
3. Element 3: Making connections. Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.
Our teaching and learning styles in RE enable children to build on their own experiences and extend their knowledge and understanding of religious traditions and beliefs. We use their experiences at religious festivals such as Easter, Eid and Passover etc. to develop their religious thinking.
This is an example of success criteria used in our books at the start of a lesson.
Key Question: How and why do Jewish people celebrate Shabbat?
Success criteria:
Make sense of belief:
- say which day of the creation story is being remembered on Shabbat
Understand the impact:
- List three things Jewish people do on Shabbat
Make connections
- say something that you think is important about saying thank you, remembering or praising on Shabbat
Our planning aims to look for answers to big questions using the three core elements as outlined above. For some questions, the children may only explore one of the elements.
Special Educational Needs and R.E.
How do we ensure all children can access R.E lessons?
Although a child may have been identified as having a special educational need, they may not have a special educational need in religious education. Effective quality first teaching is the key to enabling all children to participate and develop their knowledge and skills surrounding religious education. Differentiation within lessons is a vital component to ensure that a balance of support and challenge are achieved for all abilities. This is the same in every subject and differentiation is adjusted as expectations of individual pupils rise through progress.
Challenge and support specific to religious education may include:
• varying the language from various chosen parables and extracts
• first hand experiences
• some pre-teaching as well as using more advanced vocabulary
• providing picture clues and definitions for those needing more support
• pupil knowledge organisers
Pupils not secure within a lesson sequence are noted and adjustments made to the differentiation or level of support given. Similarly, added challenge is given if pupils are identified as requiring it. This may be noted by the teacher through questioning or the use of written work.
Impact
Formative assessment
Assessment is an integral part of every subject. The children are continuously assessed before, during and after the lessons. After each lesson, the children will be assessed using ‘I can’ statements for that lesson found within the planning. Identifying at the end of the lesson whether they feel they have met that target. This will be matched with a tick from the teacher on the SC if they have achieved this.
Summative assessment
At the end of a unit, the teacher will fill in an assessment grid which will assess the children based on the outcomes from the entire unit. Retention of knowledge is supported and assessed through a range of mini quizzes revisited regularly.