Subject Curriculum Lead: Mr Simon Poole

Context: At Cowling Community Primary School, we believe Religious Education is a vital element of a broad and balanced curriculum. The study of other faiths and cultures helps to build pupils’ understanding of the wider world and how different beliefs, practices and religions shape the modern world. It also helps to cement our ethos in the sense that we are a community within a school as well as the village.

EYFS: At Cowling, the RE curriculum is taught using the North Yorkshire scheme of work to deliver the EYFS curriculum. The units are linked to the rolling programme for Key Stage 1, taking account of our mixed age classes. EYFS pupils are taught in a variety of ways through adult-led and supported tasks and child-initiated learning in our provision areas. Practitioners will take into account the Characteristics of Effective Learning when they are planning, leading or supporting learning.

Intent: What our pupils will learn:

As a school, we use the North Yorkshire Agreed Syllabus and the accompanying scheme of work to provide the content of our RE curriculum throughout EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. The scheme of work is thoughtful, stimulating and develops children’s knowledge and understanding of religions and world views. It also enables them to express and communicate their ideas and gain the skills needed for the study of RE. The curriculum is divided into three strands:

Believing:

– Describe, explain and analyse beliefs and practices, recognising the diversity which exists within and between communities and amongst individuals

– Identify, investigate and respond to questions posed, and responses, offered by some of the sources of wisdom found in religions and world views

– Appreciate and appraise the nature, significance and impact of different ways of life and ways of expressing meaning

Expressing:

– Explain reasonably their ideas about how beliefs, practices and forms of expression influence individuals and communities

– Express with increasing discernment their personal reflections and critical responses to questions and teachings about identity, diversity, meaning and value, including ethical issues

– Appreciate and appraise varied dimensions of religion

Living:

– Find out about and investigate key concepts and questions of belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, responding creatively

– Enquire into what enables different individuals and communities to live together respectfully for the well-being of all

– Articulate beliefs, values and commitments clearly in order to explain why they may be important in their own and other people’s lives.

Implementation: The RE curriculum is delivered using a two-year rolling programme for EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to enable all of our pupils to receive their full entitlement within our mixed-age class structure.

How our pupils will be taught Religious Education (implementation):

The RE curriculum is taught in weekly lessons and recorded in pupils’ RE Books. We carry out ‘Book of Knowledge’ checks in line with research which shows that retrieval checks of knowledge at regular, spaced intervals (ideally at 2, 6 and 12 weeks after completing a topic) enable knowledge to be transferred to long-term memory. Progress is measured by children knowing and remembering more. The information from teacher assessments contributes to an end of year summative assessment.

Impact: The impact of the curriculum will be reported at the end of the year. Evidence which will contribute to impact of R.E. includes results of assessments and sticky knowledge checks, pupil voice, lesson observations and work scrutiny.