Religious Education

Intent

At Sheriff Hutton Primary School we follow the North Yorkshire Religious Education Agreed Syllabus. Our vision in North Yorkshire is of a community where people of different beliefs and religions live harmoniously side by side, displaying mutual respect, understanding and friendship. It is essential that our children and young people are supported in developing these qualities and, whilst growing in confidence, achieve a level of critical awareness that helps them to become builders and shapers of a better North Yorkshire. This agreed syllabus, developed with SACRE and the young people and teachers of North Yorkshire, seeks to support schools in this work.

North Yorkshire SACRE Agreed Syllabus 2024-2029 (1)

The principal aim of RE is to engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.

Our RE curriculum is designed to engage and enthuse learners. We believe that it is an essential area of study which ensures that children are well prepared for life in a world where there are a multitude of viewpoints. We enable the children to make their own informed decisions and to have the confidence to voice their views. It is a subject for all pupils, whatever their own family background and personal beliefs and practices.

We aim to develop pupils’ understanding of world faiths and other beliefs by exploring their commonality and diversity. In our curriculum there is both depth and breadth of study, it aims to nurture pupils’ awareness of diversity as well as sensitivity to the questions and challenges that different views and cultures can present. We all share a common humanity and we share our view of the world with an understanding of others’ views.

Implementation

RE is taught as part of weekly subject focused (discrete) lessons based on a two year rolling programme of units. Pupils learn about Christianity in each Key Stage alongside the other principle religions and non-religious world views represented in the UK today. Our learning is based around 3 strands:

Believing,
Expressing,
Living,
and the connections between them; encouraging learners to think about the religions and world-views of others respectfully.

Our EYFS children encounter Christianity and other faiths as part of their growing sense of self, their community and their place within it. Their learning is linked to flexible focus areas such as special people, objects, times, places and books; which allows them to explore and develop their understanding of the world through experiences and stories.

In Key Stage 1 children focus on Christians, Muslims and Jewish people. They begin to learn more about the beliefs, traditions and celebrations associated with different faiths. Stories are again central to their learning and act as the launch point for many activities linked to the different faiths.

In Key Stage 2 this focus extends to include Hinduism and Humanism alongside thematic studies e.g. ‘Why do people pray?’, which compare the traditions and beliefs of different faiths. At this point in their learning, the children begin to make more links between beliefs and the traditions of different faiths which they see in the world around them. They learn to value opportunities for discussion, to present their point of view, be listened to carefully and to offer the same experiences to others.

The children are always encouraged to share their personal experiences of faith and belief. This serves as a valuable starting point for class discussions and further fosters the development of our core values such as respect, kindness, friendship and tolerance.

Throughout the year, children have the opportunity to prepare and participate in services linked to Christian festivals at our local churches.

Harvest Festival is a time to give thanks but also gives us the opportunity to support the more vulnerable members of our communities through the donations of food which are collected.
Christmas celebrations are led by our youngest children, who retell the story of the Nativity and bring great joy to all!

Impact

Our Religious Education is of a high quality, well thought out and planned carefully to demonstrate progression so that children know and remember more. It has been planned to have high expectations of all learners and demonstrate coherence and progression. If children are assessed to be achieving the lesson aims then they are deemed to be making good or better progress. We measure the impact of our curriculum through work scrutiny, pupil discussions and a reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes. Monitoring is undertaken by the subject lead  at regular intervals and feedback is given to aid progress in Religious Education.