Intent

At Woolton Primary School we believe that Religious Education is concerned to enable pupils to become aware of religious aspects of life and to give them some knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other major world faiths. We take pride in reflecting a diverse and culturally rich experience for pupils.The content is concerned with the beliefs and religious practices of people and what these can mean for these people as they live out their lives. It aims to develop skills and some understanding of religious ideas. Religious Education is also concerned with the search for meaning and purpose in life by both believers and by the pupils themselves. We help the children learn from religions as well as about religions.The religious education curriculum promotes curiosity and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and empowers our children to become independent and resilient – like all curriculum areas. The curriculum we use is Opening Worlds. The programme meets and substantially exceeds the demand of the National Curriculum for history and geography. The religion programme is compatible with the objectives of most SACRE locally agreed syllabuses in RE but substantially exceeds the knowledge-base and the resourcing that such local RE syllabuses offer. The programme is characterised by strong vertical sequencing within subjects (so that pupils gain security in a rich, broad vocabulary through systematic introduction, sustained practice and deliberate revisiting) and by intricate horizontal and diagonal connections, thus creating a curriculum whose effects are far greater than the sum of their parts.

Implementation

In studying religions through multiple disciplines, pupils will: 

 ● learn about and learn from the different kinds of question human beings can ask about religious origins, beliefs and practices, namely questions that derive from philosophy, theology, social sciences and history (for example, when studying a particular religion in a particular place, asking the following different kinds of question: how does this story from the Sira or Quran help Muslims to understand this precept from the hadith? What does this New Testament story mean to Christians? What are the big ideas that this Hindu story reflects (e.g. dharma); how are these ideas expressed in other stories and in diverse religious practices across time and space? Or, how does this religious community perceive matters of justice? How has this religious tradition tackled the challenge of injustice to one another? How does this community’s beliefs shape its approach to injustice? What does this community teach about injustice and why? What insights about injustice can we gain from this religious communities’ texts, art, traditions and practices? While we are not expecting pupils of primary age to distinguish explicitly between these four disciplines, the programme will always be clear to teachers about whether the question being pursued is being examined as philosophy, theology, social sciences and history, so that the conditions under which valid claims can be made are very clear.

The material relevant to values that threads through the Haringey humanities curriculum will be clear already from the above. But let us look more closely at how this works by considering what the humanities uniquely offer the development of values, attitudes and dispositions, and some specific examples of particularly strong threads within the Haringey humanities programmes. Given that they uniquely address the study of humans in society through time and their interaction with the planet, the humanities subjects provide distinctive contributions to pupils’ overall education. If scope, rigour, coherence and sequencing are properly configured, these subjects foster the knowledge, skills and dispositions for pupils to:

 ● thrive through informed curiosity about the world

● view human challenges, quests and achievements through the lens of the long traditions that have shaped them

● think critically about how to change the world for the common good

● gain the language and concepts to notice, analyse and question how power works in society, and how inequality or suffering arises

● understand and value the diverse experiences and contributions of others who may be very different from themselves

● enrich their own sense of identity as they look across time, space and culture and see many positive versions of themselves

● understand the power of learned communities working collaboratively to seek truth in their claims about the world

 ● gain the concepts which give them the tools for precise thought and rigorous argument with which to describe, explain and change the world.

Our short-term plans are produced on a weekly and daily basis. We use these to set out the learning objectives for each lesson, identifying engaging activities and resources which will be used to achieve them.

We encourage staff to teach a weekly religious education lesson. This was a notable change after the religious education audit. This helps to ensure sufficient time is allocated to religious education and that the subject matter can be revisited frequently. We believe that by crafting our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rates of progress they make. 

Impact

Woolton Primary Staff use formative and summative assessment information in every religious education lesson. Staff use this information to inform their short-term planning and short-term interventions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils, including the more able. The assessment milestones for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down for each year group. This means that skills in religious education are progressive and build year on year. 

Assessment information is collected frequently and analysed as part of our monitoring cycle. This process provides an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in religious education. At Woolton Primary School we have a RE subject leader briefings  where the RE leader can speak to other teachers in school and update them on policy matters or receive feedback from their teaching peers. Monitoring in religious education includes: book scrutinies, lesson observations and/or learning walks, pupil/parent and/or staff voice.

All of this information is gathered and reviewed. It is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision is adapted accordingly. 

Staff are secure in their judgements and can assess with accuracy against the National Curriculum outcomes. All pupils make progress with adaptations for SEND, EAL and PP children.