Charlestown Community Primary SchoolRE
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION at Charlestown
Religious Education learning is organised into themes which we feel will provide coherence throughout the curriculum and support children in building knowledge and making learning stick. Within each topic, concepts or ‘big ideas’ are woven to allow children to make connections between their learning and in turn gain a deeper understanding allowing them to make sense of the facts and the world around them.
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Empathy/ understanding |
(Religious beliefs, teachings, sources; questions about meaning, purpose and truth) |
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Expressing |
(Religious and spiritual forms of expression; questions about identity and diversity) Through this strand the children learn about how people express their faith, through culture, worship and the way that they live. This will enable them to develop a deeper understanding of the reasons that some people possess the beliefs that they do and why some people conduct themselves in the way that they do. When exploring this, the children will express their own thoughts and ideas and look at their own identity. In turn, this will contribute towards an understanding and respect of other members of our multi-faith society. |
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Living |
(Religious practices and ways of living; questions about values and commitments) By exploring how others live and their values, including British Values children will be able to think deeply about their own values and develop as an individual. Through this strand the children learn how people live and how their religion or spiritual beliefs impact their daily life. The children will develop a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind different religious practices and are encouraged to ask questions and consider their own identity. |
RE at Charlestown.
We have taken our locally agreed syllabus and enhanced it so that it meets the needs of our children. The ‘little and often approach’ is what works for our children and supports turning their learning into long term knowledge for life.
Religious Education is fundamental for our children to become responsible, respectful and safe members of the community. Whilst they are at Charlestown, having access to a broad and rich RE curriculum routed in facts, broadens our children’s horizons and gives them the opportunity to learn about other belief systems. As the children progress through school, the shift focuses from the facts and fundamentals of religions, to the impact of faith on daily life and finally in Upper Key Stage two the children are encouraged to reflect on the impact that various moments in modern history have impacted people of different faiths.
A good quality RE education ensures that our children have leave us equipped with the knowledge and understanding of how to be respectful and tolerant to those that are different from themselves. When they go into the wider community are children will be equipped with the knowledge and understanding to adapt to an increasingly diverse community.
Key Stage One:
The focus on RE in Key Stage One is the fundamental facts about different faiths. Learning the names of places, people and religious texts are at the heart of RE in KS1. Acquiring this knowledge, using a little and often approach allows the children to absorb what they have learned, internalize it and ask questions.
Lower Key Stage two:
RE in Lower Key Stage Two, begins in Year 3 with exploring the chronology of faith, exploring how, why and when each major faith tradition began and why. Understanding this is fundamental for making connections between our RE learning and our History and Geography and it provides further insight into how people in the past lived. They then moved on to discover why different religious texts, places of worship, sites of religious significance are important to different religions.
Upper Key Stage two:
After developing a firm understanding of the facts about religions and considering the reasons behind different beliefs, RE in UKS2 is designed to allow the children explore big questions about faith. The children learning about the persecution of Jews in Britain throughout the ages and reflect on the devastating consequences of the holocaust. This is then linked to learning about the Jewish community close by in Manchester. Children in UKS2 are given the opportunity to further consider their own beliefs and develop a greater appreciation for diversity within faith traditions through learning about different denominations of Christianity. The children also link their learning the wider community by exploring what life is like for Jehovah Witnesses in and around our school community.