R.E. at Christ Church CE Primary School 

Through our Christian Faith, we acknowledge our responsibility to all, to enrich lives and show love and respect within our school family.

We believe in lifelong learning aiming to equip our children to live life today and for tomorrow rooted in Christian love.

For nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37)

Intent:

Our R.E. curriculum has been designed with the intention of enabling every child to flourish.  Good quality R.E. has the potential to have the most powerful and lasting effect on a child’s heart and mind.  It is a subject that combines academic skills with the development of character and spirit.  R.E. provides opportunities for spiritual development and personal reflection.  It provokes challenging questions about meaning and purpose, truth and values, identity and belonging. 

Our RE curriculum links with our curriculum drivers:

• Be Inquisitive
• Be Empowered
• Be Inspired
• Be Community Minded
• Be Articulate

R.E. prepares children for citizenship in today’s diverse society.  It enables children to develop sensitivity to and respect for others.  It breaks down barriers and builds communities – it helps children to be community minded.

Our RE syllabus is a revision of ‘Questful RE’ (the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education RE syllabus 2017). Building on the foundation of the 2007, 2013 and 2017 syllabuses our Diocese have updated and redesigned the content, bringing it in line with current best practice and pedagogical strategies.

By embracing the explicit teaching of Christian concepts and God’s big salvation story, it is hoped that the content of this syllabus will give pupils a deeper understanding of Christianity. In addition, pupils explore all major world faiths and discuss world views where appropriate.

Whoever we are, wherever we live, whether we are a person of faith or not, we all have a view on the world. Nobody stands nowhere.

On a quest to discover more about religion and world views pupils will discover more about themselves. As RE develops children’s knowledge and understanding of the nature of religion and belief, it provokes challenging questions about meaning and purpose, truth and values, identity and belonging. Through the syllabus pupils will experience, explore and encounter a wide range of creative and challenging multi-sensory activities that will help them to discover the answers to fundamental questions such as these: –

• Who am I and what does it mean to be me?
• In what ways do/can I relate to others?
• How/where can I encounter God?
• How can I make a positive contribution to the world in which I live?
• What values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour are important to me?
• What does it mean to have faith?
• Who/what influences and inspires me?

Through an open investigative enquiry approach pupils will be given the sense of being on a quest of discovery. A key feature of the syllabus is the large number of questions included in each unit. The purpose of these questions is to give pupils opportunity to investigate, reflect, evaluate and make meaning. In doing so they will discover more about themselves, their relationships with others, their relationship with the world around them and their relationship with God. The questions set the route through the curriculum content.

The curriculum content is a balance of the three essential disciplines of quality RE, Theology, Philosophy and Social Science. This means pupils will look at concepts through a theological lens, exploring what people of faith believe. Alongside this pupils will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the lived reality and impact of religion and world views on people’s lives. They will also think like philosophers, and be equipped with the skills that will enable them to make sense of life’s experiences.

Our RE Curriculum will encourage children to therefore be inquisitive (about all religions, views, traditions), empowered, inspired and able to articulate their views, thoughts and feelings around its subject content.

We aim that the impact of RE should be visible in all areas of the curriculum and school life.  RE makes a significant contribution to the Christian ethos of the school.  We practise the belief that in our RE curriculum time, Christianity should occupy 80% and 20% will be devoted to non-Christian faith.

Implementation:

Our curriculum syllabus is progressive and broken down into half termly units that children will cover: 

Bold highlights = coverage of Non-Christian Faith Units

Impact:

RE in EYFS:

The areas of learning and development covered by the EYFS Units in our RE syllabus are:

• communication and language
• personal, social and emotional development
• literacy
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design

Early Learning Goals

The content of the EYFS units in the syllabus contribute to the attainment of the following early learning goals:

Communication and Language

ELG: Listening, Attention and Understanding

Children at the expected level of development will

• listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.
• make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.
• hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.

 ELG: Speaking

Children at the expected level of development will:

• participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
• offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.
• express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences.

Personal Social and Emotional Development

ELG: Self-Regulation

Children at the expected level of development will

• show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly.

ELG: Building Relationships

Children at the expected level of development will

• work and play cooperatively and take turns with others.
• form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers.
• show sensitivity to their own and to others’ needs.

Literacy

 ELG: Comprehension

Children at the expected level of development will

• demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.

ELG: Writing

Children at the expected level of development will

• write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.

Understanding the world

ELG: Past and Present

Children at the expected level of development will

• talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.
• know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.

ELG: People, Culture and Communities

Children at the expected level of development will

• describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
• know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and, when appropriate, maps.

Expressive Arts and Design

 ELG: Creating with Materials

Children at the expected level of development will

• share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
• make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

ELG: Being Imaginative and Expressive

Children at the expected level of development will

• Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher.

By the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2) children are expected to have the following knowledge and understanding:

They should…

• know that Christians believe that God is the creator of the world and everything in it.
• know that Christians believe that God is three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• be able to retell both the nativity and Easter stories.
• use religious words to talk about the celebrations of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
• know that Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again.
• know that Jesus had 12 special friends called disciples.
• know that the Bible is the Christian holy book and it contains God’s big story, the salvation plan.
• be able to retell stories of Jesus’ miracles.
• have visited a church and confidently talk about their experience and what they have learnt.
• have had opportunity to ask reflective questions that wonder about religious practice, values and beliefs.
• be able to give examples of how people of faith put their beliefs into action.
• know the names and significance of holy books from at least three world faiths.
• be developing a sense of their own values and the values of others. 
• be able to identify and talk about the places of worship of at least three world faiths.

By the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6) children are expected to have the following knowledge and understanding:

They should…

• know that Christians believe that God is three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the Trinity.
• know that Christians believe that in the beginning God created everything and it was good. People spoilt the environment and their relationship with God. This is known as the Fall.
• know that Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour who came to rescue all people and restore their relationship with God.
• know that Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross, rose again and is alive with us today.
• know that Christians believe that Jesus will come again and Earth and Heaven will be transformed to be as God intended (the Kingdom of God).
• know that Christians try to put the teaching of Jesus, the good news, into practice in their everyday lives and build God’s Kingdom on earth as best they can.
• know that Pentecost was the start of the church.
• know that Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in their lives today.
• know that Christianity is a worldwide multi-cultural faith.
• know that prayer is an important part of the life of a believer and explain why.
• know the names and stories of at least 3 people in the past and present times who have been called by God to do his work and speak his word.
• describe the impact that responding to God’s call has on a believer’s life.
• use developing religious vocabulary to talk about the impact religion has on believers’ lives.
• be able to make comparisons and identify the similarities and differences between the rules for living in at least three world faiths.
• ask important questions about religion and belief that improves their learning.
• experience a visit to a place of worship other than a church building.
• talk knowledgeably about places of worship, the names and features of buildings and the worship that takes place there.
• retell in detail the stories of Christmas and Easter describing core Christian beliefs and concepts.
• connect Christian practices, values and beliefs to events and teaching in the Bible.
• be able to describe and show understanding of the links between the teachings in Holy Books and the behaviour of the believers.
• be able to express and explain their own opinions on issues they have discussed.
• use an increasingly wide religious vocabulary to talk about the meaning of rites of passage and pilgrimage experienced by believers as they journey through life.
• describe what they think motivates people of faith and explain what inspires and influences them personally.
• ask and suggest answers to questions that show their understanding of distinctive beliefs about God across three world religions.
• know and be able to talk about the links between Christianity and Judaism.
• describe the similarities and differences within and between Christian denominations with particular reference to the Eucharist.