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Religious Education "All religions are branches of one big tree" - George Harrison

Religious Education Leader Mrs Fisher

At St. Botolph’s, Religious Education contributes dynamically to pupils’ education by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. It develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity amongst other religions and religious traditions.

RE enables pupils to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society. It teaches pupils to develop respect for others, including people from different faiths and beliefs and helps to challenge prejudice.

Pupils are prompted to consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others and to explore how they might contribute to their communities and to the wider society. We are proud to say that we encourage empathy, generosity and compassion.

At St. Botolph's, we believe that it is vial for all our pupils to learn about but also from religion, so that they can understand the world around them. Through Religious Education, we want pupils to develop their knowledge of world faiths, and their understanding and awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures. We want to encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We will offer pupils cultural experiences that will enable them to become educated citizens with a good moral compass.

We aim for our pupils to develop skills and progressive knowledge across all phases, which can be measured and demonstrates that pupils have reached their maximum potential. We want our pupils to be confident in articulating their opinions and points of view and yet listen and accept those of others.

Essential Skills of a Theologian

The ability to think critically about other people's views, opinions and beliefs.

The ability to understand and think with complex concepts that are not tied with concrete experiences, objects. people or situations.

The ability to draw out relations between concepts and ideas.

Religious Education Implementation

We use Understanding Christianity and the Locally Agreed Syllabus as the basis for our RE curriculum (also seeking the support from the local Diocese). Units are chosen and the curriculum is designed to enable all pupils, no matter what their faith, to be immersed in activities, discussion, reflection time and stillness.

As part of this process, teachers plan and use the following:

  • A personalised key stage knowledge organisers which outlines what all pupils must master and supports their understanding during RE lessons
  • A coherent, well-constructed cycle of lessons for each unit/theme, which carefully plans for progression and depth and challenges discussion with thought-provoking questions.
  • Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner.
  • Thought bubbles to record their own and others' views.
  • Trips and visiting experts who will enhance the learning experience.
  • A journal-style RE book in which to record their work, their thoughts, ideas and drawings.
  • To begin to understand spirituality as not something they can see; to encourage them to feel emotions, ask questions and allow them to be themselves without any judgement. It may give them a sense of purpose and make them feel that they are part of something bigger.

Religious Education Impact

The Religious Education Curriculum is of high quality and is treated with the same rigour as English or Maths. It is well-thought out, coherent and clear, demonstrating good or better attainment and progression of skills. Pupils clearly articulate their thinking and their learning in every unit (This is supported through the 'Digging Deeper' planning sections of Understanding Christianity).

In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through:

  • A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes.
  • Monitoring and analysis of the RE assessment and tracking grids.
  • Moderation of RE work.
  • Book scrutiny of both individual RE books and the key stage Big Books.
  • Pupil discussions about their learning in RE.
  • The quality of RE in learning environments.
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