Intent

At Healey, Religious Education is taught following the Calderdale, Kirklees, and Leeds Agreed syllabus, 2019 to all pupils throughout school.

The curriculum is broad and balanced for all pupils. The syllabus is built around investigation of beliefs and practices of religions and other world views, including how religions and world views address questions of meaning, purpose and value and how they influence morality, identity and diversity.

The curriculum helps all pupils to develop increasing understanding and empathy of our wide and diverse communities, and to develop knowledge and the ability to reflect. It is adapted to suit all pupils, including those with disability and SEN through the use of sensory resources and personal experiences, including visitors and visits to places of worship as well as dance, drama, music, art and a range of IT.

The curriculum is planned and sequenced to teach RE through an evolving understanding of world faiths; Christianity, Islam and Humanism through all key stages, extending to include Judaism and Sikhism in KS2. It offers children the opportunity to engage with people and places of faith within and outside school and to share in faith celebrations within school.

The RE curriculum supports SMSC and Fundamental British Values through opportunities as they naturally arise through the school year. These include Remembrance Day, Interfaith Week, National and International Awareness days, charity days such as Children in Need, Sports Relief and local events like Joe Cox memorial events and the Great Get Together.

Implementation

The RE curriculum taught at Healey is delivered through the Calderdale, Kirklees, and Leeds Agreed syllabus, 2019 using the provided units of work as a framework.

The broad and balanced programme of RE reflects three key areas:

• A study of the key beliefs and practices of religions and other world views, including those represented within in school. Christianity and Islam are the focus for Early Years and Key Stage One. In Key Stage Two the core religions of Sikhism and Judaism are introduced, alongside Christianity and Islam.  Other (non-religious) world views are included at each key stage.
• Opportunities to explore key religious concepts and common human questions of meaning, purpose and value.
•  Investigation of how beliefs affect moral decisions and identity, exploring both diversity and shared human values.

The syllabus is taught mainly through discreet RE lessons led by HLTAs. All pupils receive a minimum one hour a week of combined RE/PSHE. The long term curriculum plan  covers  the four main religions as mentioned and other worldviews to ensure, by Year 6, pupils have experienced these religions more than once and have a clear understanding of their main concepts/beliefs and practices, as well as being able to reflect on links between religions.

Half termly units of work based around a key question are studied by each year group. (See Fig 1)  Enquiry and investigation of the key question includes:

• An analysis of the question
• A critical investigation of relevant beliefs, practices and ways of life
• A reasoned and critical response.

Over each half term pupils build their knowledge and develop skills acquired in other subject areas to help them respond to the enquiry based question. The children do this through a range of different activities using various medium - talk and debate, reading stories, listening to music, group work, writing in different formats, artwork, dance and drama. Comprehensive resources and activities are available within the units of work to enable the children to meet the learning outcomes. Each year group has the opportunity to visit to a place of worship, or have a visit from a religious representative or watch video clips about that religion. By the end of a unit of work children have the opportunity to reflect on their learning and develop a personal response through activities which captures this learning. Units of work link to key dates and religious festivals, providing the opportunity to celebrate festivals and religions with greater relevance and consistency and enhances a cross- curricular approach.

Impact

By the end of each year children will have further developed their reflective skills and have more knowledge about religions and word views. They will be able to talk enthusiastically about their knowledge, using some key language. They will show a developing understanding of diversity, empathy and cohesion, when talking about contemporary and relevant issues in their own community and globally. Through RE children will develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally to better understand themselves and others and will learn to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural society.

RE in Early Years

RE is introduced through festivals and celebrations throughout the year.  Planned, purposeful play and a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity, provide opportunities for children to experience religion and world views using all their senses. Material is mainly drawn from Christianity and Islam as most of our children identify with these religions. Although all areas of the EYFS profile are relevant, RE particularly supports the development of:

• Communication and language;
• Personal, social and emotional development;
• Understanding the world

Children encounter religions and other world views through special people, books, times, places and objects and by visiting places of worship. They listen to and talk about stories from a range of different religions and world views. Pupils hear subject specific words and use all their senses to encounter beliefs and practices. They are encouraged to ask questions and talk about their own feelings and experiences. Children use their imagination and curiosity to develop appreciation of, and wonder at, the natural world. They learn to appreciate and value human beings, recognising and encountering diversity.