Intent

At Welbourne Primary School, we want our children to learn about and from religion to help them understand the world they live in. We aim for them to have an understanding of Christianity and other major world faiths, what it means to be a member of those faiths and to appreciate how religion can shape lives and behaviour. We aim for our children to have the knowledge and skills to make informed and reasoned judgements about religious and moral issues, as well as extend their spiritual, moral and cultural development. 

Our aim is to offer children the opportunity to explore their own beliefs and faiths as well as those of others in a safe environment, by giving them the skills to ask questions and to investigate the answers to those questions. We feel that is important that our children are able to link the values of our school to their learning in RE. 

Through our teaching of RE, we aim to equip our children with the skills and understanding to deal with some of the most profound and difficult questions of life, such as:

• What is the purpose of life?

• How should people treat each other?

• How do we explain and cope with death and suffering?

Implementation 

At Welbourne Primary Academy we use the Cambridgeshire Agreed Syllabus for RE as a starting point for developing our curriculum and we use Curriculum Maestro as a starting point for the planning of the lessons to support this. Children are taught RE weekly across the school. These sessions are supplemented by our weekly values assemblies as well as PSHE topics about respect.

There is a ‘Big Question’ posed at the start of each topic and the children are given the opportunity to explore this question at the start of the topic with their prior knowledge and then again at the end of the topic to compare their views and understanding.

This approach allows children to  

• Ask questions 

• Discover information 

• Approach new material with empathy  

• Reflect on their learning 

Children are encouraged to make comparisons between the different religions and reflect on some of the similarities and differences they find. Further up the school, the children discuss why people follow a faith and the impact it could have on their own lives. 

Children explore six religions each year, and this is recorded in a book that moves through the school with them. The learning is recorded in a variety of ways, as creatively and engagingly as possible to ensure that the RE learning is the main focus.  

Throughout the RE curriculum runs the theme of respect and tolerance. The children are taught the knowledge and skills in a respectful and non-judgemental manner to allow the children to form their own opinions. 

In Early Years, the children learn about major religious festivals. In key stage one, pupils are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through religion and belief as well as wider learning themes. They are introduced to other principle religions and can reflect on prior learning as they progress through the units. 

Learning about religion and belief 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• Explore a range of religious stories and religious texts and talk about their meaning 

• Explore a range of celebrations, teachings and traditions in religions, noting similarities and differences 

• Recognise how belonging to a religion is important to people and the impact it has on their lives 

• Explore how religious beliefs and ideas are expressed.

• Begin to establish a religious vocabulary and suggests meanings for religious symbols.

Learning from religion and belief

Pupils should be taught to: 

• Reflect on what matters to them and others who hold religious views.

• Reflect on moral values of right and wrong.

• Recognise there are similarities and differences between theirs and others lives.

• Communicate their ideas and ask and respond to questions.

• Recognise how religious ideas and beliefs impact people’s lives personally and socially.

During this key stage, pupils are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through deeper enquiry into known religions and in Year 6, encounter secular world views. Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 consider the impact of beliefs and practises in greater detail.

Learning about religion and belief

Pupils should be taught to: 

• Explore and comment on the key aspects of religions, believer’s lives, their stories and traditions and their influence.

• Explore how practises are related to beliefs and teachings.

• Interpret information about religion and religious beliefs through a range of sources.

• Recognise similarities and differences within and between religions.

• Consider how religious and spiritual ideas are expressed.

• Describe and begin to encounter religious and other responses to ultimate questions and ethical or moral issues.

• Use a developed religious vocabulary when discussing and expressing their knowledge and understanding.

Learning from religion and belief

Pupils should be taught to:

• Reflect on what it means to belong to a faith community and how this relates to them and others’ lives.

• Recognise how religious practise is conducted in a variety of ways.

• Discuss their own and other’s views of religious truth and belief.

• Reflect on morality and how people respond to decisions they are faced with.

• Reflect on sources of information and what they find value in in their own and other’s lives.

Children across the school are assessed using the criteria above. 

Impact

At Welbourne, our children enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion. Through their R.E. learning, the children are able 

  

• To make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. 

• Develop an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life. 

• Extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs. 

• Develop a religious vocabulary and interpret religious symbolism in a variety of forms. 

• Reflect on questions of meaning, offering their own thoughtful and informed insights into religious and secular worldviews. 

• Explore ultimate questions of beliefs and values in relation to a range of contemporary issues in an ever-changing society. 

Additional information about RE at Welbourne can be found by clicking on the tabs on this page or contacting Mrs Randall RE Lead via the school office office@wel.education