Intent

At Bedonwell Federation, we believe in one community, regardless of belief or race. As a result, our RE curriculum encourages children to discover and explore different worldviews (religious and non-religious), in a way that stimulates a deep level of thinking, questioning and self-reflection. By teaching the how and why of a belief and through considering the impact on individuals, groups and a community, children will be able to weigh up and evaluate what they have learnt from the different sources of wisdom in order to develop their own views accordingly. By embracing difference, our RE curriculum promotes empathy, tolerance and respectfulness towards each other in our community, as well as in the wider world.

We have carefully considered chronology in our planning that builds progressively on pupils’ knowledge and skills from Nursery to Year 6. We use the agreed syllabus as a basis for our planning and personalise and extend it to suit our specific context.

The aims of our RE curriculum:

• To reflect our ‘Golden Values’
• To be creative and inspiring to encourage all children to be able to successfully learn.
• To provide continual opportunities for children to reflect on their own experiences and to develop a personal response to the fundamental questions of life
• To link to the broader curriculum, for example RSHE and Rights and Responsibilities

Implementation

The Curriculum

 Children are taught to:

1. Reflect on what it means to belong to a faith community, communicating their own and other’s responses.
2. Respond to the challenge of commitment both in their own lives and within religious traditions, recognising how commitment to a religion is shown in a variety of ways.
3. Discuss their own and others’ views of religious truth and belief, expressing their own ideas.
4. Reflect on ideas of right and wrong and their own and others’ responses to them.
5. Reflect on sources of inspiration in their own and others’ lives.

The RE curriculum is divided into 3 distinct areas of learning which are:

 Knowledge and Understanding

Children will explore and evaluate beliefs and values so that they gain a deeper understanding by looking at different sources of wisdom, whether that be key religious leaders or sacred books.

Expressing and Communicating Ideas

Children will explore how religious and spiritual forms of expression inspire and impact both individuals and communities and form their own reflective and evaluative responses towards questions and teachings based on identity and diversity.

Living

Children will learn about religious practices and ways of living and develop questions about values and commitments.

The teaching of RE will use a range of teaching and learning strategies such as discussions, visitors, visits, role play, research, questioning, use of videos, analytical activities, odd one out. As a result of these approaches learning goes beyond learning about religions and encourages pupils to become reflective, analytical and evaluative of their own as well as others’ beliefs, values and practices and communicate their own responses. The teaching of RE delivered at Bedonwell Federation promotes pupils’ spiritual growth and development. In Britain, Christianity is considered the main religion and so our curriculum reflects this. In each year group, one main religion (or two in year two) is studied. This progresses in each key stage from exploring the beliefs and identity to then looking at how their identity creates a sense of belonging and meaning.

Year 1: Who is a Christian and what do they believe?

Year 2: Who is a Muslim and what do they believe? / Who is Jewish and what do they believe?

Year 3: What does it mean to be a in Christian in Britain today?

Year 4: What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today?

Year 5: What does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain today?

Year 6: What matters most to Christians and Humanists?

An important element of our curriculum is giving pupils the knowledge they need so that they can recall and apply this knowledge and understanding in different concepts. Therefore, our curriculum across the school and within year groups and the unit itself is building upon prior knowledge. Children’s attention in each lesson should be drawn to the symbols of the religious faiths explored. As some units exploring different faiths under one concept, it is important pupils can revisit their prior learning regularly to help their knowledge and understanding to be embedded in their long-term memory.

This can be done by pupils engaging in a working wall for each unit, looking at prior learning at the beginning of each lesson and as a plenary being able to add knowledge and understanding gained from the lesson as well as beliefs and concepts explored. This will be beneficial in allowing children to progress in then looking at the similarities and differences between the religious and non-religious groups.

Impact

Pupils will leave Bedonwell Federation having fostered a sound understanding of different religions, both from a knowledge and skills perspective and from a cultural stance. Through the key questions, that are an integral part of each unit, pupils will have developed an understanding and empathy of the beliefs, attitudes and values of others and a good understanding of their own.

Teachers will enjoy teaching the new agreed Bexley RE syllabus (2021) and will be confident in its delivery. Via strong subject leadership, they will have a clear overview of skills/knowledge coverage with a clear picture of progression across the federation.  Regardless of academic ability, all children/pupils will have had numerous opportunities to develop their RE skills and develop their understanding of religions in the modern world.