Religious education policy
Saint James Church of England Primary School is a Church of England voluntary controlled school, within the Diocese of Winchester. The teaching of RE at Saint James follows Living Difference IV (2021) as the legal framework and the local agreed syllabus for Hampshire Schools. This is then supported by the resource Understanding Christianity (2016), which promotes theological literacy and a deeper understanding of the whole Christian narrative for children.
Christian Values and Vision
The specific Christian Values of Love, Respect and Courage underpin, and are intrinsic to the ethos and belief of Saint James Church of England Primary School. It is the aim of the school to develop the whole child as independent, interdependent and life-long learners, as well as citizens able to make a positive contribution to the wider world. Everyone in the school community should show Love through understanding of people’s differences as shown through the life of Jesus Christ; Respect in being able to treat ourselves, others and creation as we should and Courage to stand up for our and other’s beliefs.
The Aim of RE
The school is committed to encouraging an open-minded approach through which pupils learn to respect and value the opinions and beliefs of others, as well as learning to express their own viewpoints. Therefore, pupils will develop their own thinking and understanding of Christianity and other faiths, as a contribution to their understanding of the world and their own experience within it.
Aims
- To further develop the Christian ethos within the school.
- To enable pupils to express and develop their own beliefs and values.
- To raise awareness of experiences and concepts basic to all religions, in order to clarify and enlarge ideas, giving a more coherent view of particular religions.
- To encourage children to value and respect the beliefs of others.
- To foster an attitude of fair-minded and empathic enquiry toward the whole range of religious and non-religious convictions.
- To develop an awareness of the spiritual dimension of life.
- To develop a more reflective approach to life.
Programmes of Study
We aim to teach the recommended hours of 36 in KS1 and 45 in KS2. To do this, the time allocation for the teaching of RE in the school is 7 ½ hours per half term in Key Stage 2 and 6 hours per half term in Early years and Key Stage 1. RE is taught in blocked units.
We have elected to study: EYFS and KS1 Christianity and Hinduism KS2 (Years ¾) Christianity and Judaism KS2 (Years 5/6) Christianity and Islam
Approaches
RE is planned and taught in accordance with the Agreed Syllabus: Living Difference IV and Understanding Christianity. These are both concept-based approaches, based on the RE map which has been developed by the subject leader (Appendix A). The Agreed Syllabus emphasises the importance of five distinctive skills, which are used as a methodology for teaching and learning. These skills are taught as a cycle (Diagram 1). They must all be completed in the set order for children to make sense of the concept (referred to at Saint James’ as ‘The Big Idea’) and its implication for themselves and others. This cycle will be displayed in classrooms and children will recognise how this forms a part of their learning.
Diagram 1 (please see pdf)
Strategies for the teaching of RE
The teaching of RE will be in accordance with the school’s Teaching and Learning policies. The RE subject leader will provide planning from both Living Difference IV and Understanding Christianity which include the ‘Big Idea’ (concept). It is then the class teacher’s responsibility to plan and teach, with support from the RE leader is available if needed. From Year 1 upwards, children will record RE in orange exercise books, which follow them through the school. Before starting each unit of work, the relevant cycle will be stuck in books.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development
RE has a particular contribution to make towards the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) education of each child. We aim to develop the children’s SMSC education in order to enable them to make personal informed choices of faith and lifestyle.
Examples of how we give opportunity for this through the teaching of RE:
• Provide opportunities for reflection on what they have learned and how it might affect them
• Respect for religious commitment and for those holding different beliefs
• An awareness and understanding of their own and others beliefs
• A set of values, principles and beliefs, which may or may not be religious, which inform their perspective on life and their patterns of behaviour
Equal Opportunities
All pupils, regardless of religion, race, gender, ethnicity, age or ability, are given access to this area of the curriculum. RE allows pupils to engage with a range of issues. Some children could potentially feel vulnerable especially if they are in a minority. Staff seek to provide a safe environment for fair-minded and sensitive enquiry.
Children with Special Educational Needs (including those who show particular ability in this area) have equal access to the RE curriculum. Class teachers are responsible for differentiating learning to allow all children to work at an appropriate level, thus enabling them to achieve to the best of their ability.
Withdrawal
By law parents have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of the RE curriculum. Parents will be asked to indicate the areas they require their children to be withdrawn from.
Responsibilities for RE
It is the responsibility of the RE Leader to oversee and monitor the development of RE within the school. This includes:
- To foster high expectations of teaching and learning in RE for all children
- To take the lead in policy development
- To ensure that RE is managed and organised to meet the school’s teaching and learning policies
- To ensure continuity and progression in RE throughout the school through development of the long and medium-term planning
- To support, guide and motivate colleagues
- To monitor progress in RE, including the collection of samples of work, pupil conferencing and teaching and learning observations
- To set priorities and targets to further develop provision, with particular reference to the school strategic priorities
- To take responsibility for the purchase and organisation of resources
- To keep up-to-date with developments in RE and advise colleagues of these developments where appropriate
- To ensure opportunities to reflect on our school values: Love, Respect and Courage are taken.
It is the teacher’s responsibility to teach RE according to the planning in the identified time.
Assessment, Recording and Reporting
Assessment in RE should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) and is completed using the progression document. Assessment is carried out in order to:
- Inform teachers of the effectiveness of teaching and learning in RE
- Inform future planning
- Provide children with how their learning is going and their next steps to improve
- Enable teachers to inform parents of their child’s RE development
There are some aspects of RE that cannot be assessed such as the spiritual dimension of RE as this is intangible and pupils’ responses and ideas are personal.
Each year group will assess a different section of the cycle each half term. These are spread over the year so by the end of an academic year all five skills have been assessed. Work is assessed as ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ or ‘exceeding’ against the end of year expectations in our progression document. It is a legal requirement to report annually to parents on RE and therefore this forms part of the end of year annual report.
Monitoring
The aims of monitoring in RE are to:
- Ensure that the learning outcomes detailed in planning are being met (including that appropriate differentiation has been put in place)
- Collect evidence of children’s work in order to create a Samples of Work Portfolio, exemplifying standards
- Identify aspects of RE where development work is needed
- Consider what further resources, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and In Service training (INSET) are required to deliver the RE curriculum effectively
- Consider the extent to which it contributes to the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and their understanding of the school’s Christian Values and Vision
Download original document
Policy document (PDF, includes appendices)
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