Intention

At Thornton Primary School we strive to create an R.E Curriculum which supports pupils’ personal search for meaning as they explore what it means to be human. It follows the Lancashire Field of Enquiry model, but also specifies knowledge and skills which build towards clear goals at the end of each Key Stage. This ensures that the curriculum is progressive, clearly sequenced and suitably ambitious.

Implementation

We follow the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Educations (Lancashire SACRE). The National Curriculum states that  state funded schools;

‘must offer a curriculum which is broad and balanced, and which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepare pupils at the school for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life’

The Lancashire Field of Enquiry is a medium-term planning model that is central to the delivery of this syllabus. The use of this model allows teachers at Thornton Primary to fulfil the aims of the syllabus and support pupils’ personal search for meaning as they explore what it is to be human. Through this model we ensure that the teaching of religious education is embedded within the disciplines of theology, philosophy, ethics and social science. A given key question provides the central line of enquiry across each year group and then focus questions provide a point of exploration within each religion. As a school we have chosen to focus on three core religions; Christianity, Islam and Hindu Dharma. Children will be taught three Christianity units each year which will focus on links to God, Jesus and the Church. They will then be taught a unit on Islam and Hindu Dharma. Teachers will endeavour to make links to other religions within these units and encourage children to consider similarities and differences of different faiths and cultures.

Each unit of work is structured to include the following four elements:

 • Shared human experience - the nature of being human.

• Living religious tradition - principal religious traditions encountered in the world.

 • Beliefs and values – the theology that lies at the heart of these traditions.

• The search for personal meaning – a lifelong quest for understanding.

Learning Connections

The Lancashire Agreed Syllabus for R.E provides a balanced coverage of  the key knowledge and skills linked to the teaching of religious education, which also considers our school demographic. The RE curriculum provides strong connections to our three core values, ‘Love, Ambition and Respect’ and aligns with the citizenship work that children complete in their classes. The curriculum also provides meaningful links to other subjects such as art and music.

To support the implementation of the RE curriculum we have a variety of resources available to the teachers including books, artefacts and Bibles. Children will be given regular opportunities to visit places of worship and meet/speak to visitors from different backgrounds, faiths and cultures.

SEND

We support our SEND children by pre-teaching subject specific vocabulary and scaffolding learning where appropriate i.e., using word banks, templates, visual resources etc. The Lancashire Field of Enquiry model encourages lots of discussion and opportunities to share their own ideas and opinions through art and role-play which gives all children the chance to interact and engage with lessons in R.E.

Impact

We monitor and assess the impact of our RE scheme through both formative and summative assessments. Each lesson provides the teacher with the opportunity to assess the children against the learning objective, this may be through discussions with children or a more formal piece of written work.  At the end of each unit children will be assessed on their understanding by completing a short assessment provided by the RE Subject Leader. These assessments will be provided at a distance from the initial learning e.g., at least 3 weeks after.

We expect that the impact of providing high quality R.E lessons in school is that children will be able to recognise and celebrate each other’s differences, beliefs and cultures and we hope that by exposing children to these ideas and providing a well-balanced and engaging curriculum we will create well rounded, thoughtful and caring individuals who take these values beyond primary school and apply them in their own lives.