Religious Education

Intent

Through the provision of regular Religious Education lessons, we aim to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of the religions and beliefs which form part of contemporary society and how these inform our values and are reflected in how people behave.  Religious Education helps students to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally in a way that enables them to understand and value themselves and others and to better cope with the challenges of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world. 

At The Highway Primary we believe that Religious Education should be an active enquiry process, with well informed and balanced discussions where students use a variety of approaches to interpret, analyse, apply and evaluate what they understand about other religions and worldviews. Through enquiry, children should build their knowledge and understanding of other religions and worldviews and consider and reflect meaningfully on what they have learnt in order to create an informed view of their own.

Implementation

The Highway Primary has adopted the Discovery RE curriculum.  Discovery RE is a comprehensive RE scheme, with 64 modules covering all of the major world religions. It supports the teacher to deliver engaging and challenging RE lessons and develops children’s learning about and from religion in a progressive way.

Discovery RE is a “Curriculum for all”.  There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff.  We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely.  All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community.  We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our children. 

The enquiry approach makes RE exciting and engaging for our children. The key question for the enquiry is such that it demands an answer that weighs up ‘evidence’ and reaches a conclusion based on this. This necessitates children using their subject knowledge and applying it to the enquiry question, rather than this knowledge being an end in itself. Discovery RE focuses on critical thinking skills, on personal reflection into the child’s own thoughts and feelings, on growing subject knowledge and nurturing spiritual development. The 4 key steps are: Engagement, Investigation, Evaluation, Expression.

Impact

At the end of each year, children have gained a deepening understanding of the curriculum's core concepts. Their understanding has developed to make links between themes within the curriculum area and across the curriculum.  They are increasingly curious which allows them to communicate and debate upon and reflect on their own lines of enquiry and areas of interest.

Children will:

• talk enthusiastically about their RE lessons and show a genuine curiosity and interest in the areas they have explored. 
• have the confidence and language to be able to challenge their perceptions and perspectives and those of others.
•  know how and why it is important to learn about ourselves, others and the world in which we live. Children will feel empowered and enabled to direct their learning. 
• will have discussions and reflection at appropriate moments across the school day. 
• use acquired vocabulary and social skills through their experiences. 
• will have well developed and embedded personal qualities and values which will equip them to meet wider social demands of young adult life. 

This will be evident through pupil voice, evidence of knowledge and skills and the monitoring of the ambition behind the curriculum. In addition to informal observations during lessons and feedback.  

Assessment in RE takes place through informal judgements by staff during lessons, formal checklists, next steps, including verbal feedback and pupil and peer assessments. At the end of a unit of work teachers make a summary judgement about the learning of each pupil in relation to the success criteria outlined at the beginning of the unit of work.

Religious Education: Parental Rights to Withdrawal

Under UK Education Law, parents and carers have the right to withdraw their child from the school’s curricular Religious Education provision, either fully or in part. Parents and carers do not have to provide an explanation for this decision other than that they wish to make their own provision for their child’s education in this respect.

If any parent or carer wishes to withdraw their child from curricular Religious Education, the school would welcome the opportunity to discuss this in the first instance. Please note that there is no requirement for parents to discuss their decision with the school but it would provide an opportunity for the school to better understand the request and possibly provide parents with some reassurances in respect of the school’s provision for Religious Education.

Please note that where a child is withdrawn from the school’s curricular Religious Education, the school still has a duty of care to look after that child but there is no requirement for the school to make alternative provision. It should also be noted that the right to withdrawal only covers Religious Education lessons; it does not cover other subject areas where content related to religion/belief systems might be studied e.g. the study of a religious parable in an English lesson.

Collective Worship

Collective worship is held daily and is based on themes to extend the children's understanding and knowledge of religious beliefs and values. Whole school, year group and class-based assemblies are held each week to celebrate and share successes, build a sense of community, explore key themes and promote an increasing sense of responsibility.

Our intention is that Collective Worship, as part of our daily assembly, should be an inclusive activity, respecting the integrity of all concerned.  It is hoped that all parents will want their children to be involved. However, in accordance with the law, children may be withdrawn from Collective Worship if their parents request it, but we would encourage you to discuss this fully with the class teacher before coming to a final decision on this matter.  The school will make alternative arrangements for children who are withdrawn from assemblies.