Subjects

Intent: In Religious Education at OBPS, we intend to provide children with a well-rounded view of the different world religions by the time they leave primary school. We aim to guide them in their understanding of the key elements within each religion, how these are celebrated and to promote tolerance and understanding towards all religious beliefs. In doing so, we promote self-reflection and aim for all children to understand how their own beliefs and ideas are both similar and different to others around them. We understand that children in our local context may have a limited exposure to diverse beliefs and communities and want to offer experiences and learning that help prepare children for life in modern multicultural Britain and beyond.

We aim to enable pupils to:

• Develop a knowledge and understanding of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism (reflecting the religious context of Norwich and Norfolk within the UK).
• Recognise the influence of beliefs, values and traditions on cultural and community life.
• Gradually encourage children to question and wondering about deities and beliefs, people and communities and how people think about and understand the world.
• Ask challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life; beliefs about God; the self and the nature of reality; issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.
• Have opportunities for personal reflection and children’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development.
• Learn from different religions, beliefs, values and traditions while exploring their own beliefs and questions of meaning.
• Provide opportunties for children to learn about and undertand different religions and communities which may be outside of their own experiences.
• Develop children's sense of identity and belonging and enable them to flourish individually within their communities and as citizens in a multi-faith and multi-cultural society and global community.
• Develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own.
• Support children to be open minded and tolerant, thoughtful and discerning, and to feel empowered and equipped to recognise and challenge prejudice.

Early Years Foundation Stage: Themes which build and draw on children's experiences and build early understanding of key RE concepts around celebrations, stories and Christian festivals, drawing on Christianity and other religions, including Hinduism and Judaism.

Key Stage One: Introducing the study of Christianity and aspects of Buddhism and Islam. Developing an understanding of some core concepts and figures in these religions and learning about beliefs in practice such as finding out about how religious beliefs can impact daily life or considering how religion helps people understand the world. 

Key Stage Two: Developing the study of Christianity and aspects of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. Both exploring new ideas but also revisiting some themes through the lens of different religions. 

At each Key Stage, teachers may also draw from other religions and viewpoints (including Judaism, Humanism, Sikhism and Hinduism), as appropriate, to acknowledge the beliefs of the children within the class. Teachers are careful to talk neutrally and respectfully about religions and religious beliefs to support children in exploring their own beliefs and developing a tolerant and respectful attitude towards the belief of different people, in line with our core school and British values.

All Key Stages use an enquiry approach, using a key question and smaller questions throughout lessons to support children in speculating, wondering, reasoning, sharing opinions and making judgements. To support consistency and quality of Religious Education, the school makes use of the Discovery RE scheme which has been quality assured against the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus and the religious context of the local area.

To support the developing consistency of RE teaching across Key Stage 1 and 2, teachers will use cover sheets which help organise question, objectives and helpful vocabulary for each unit.

Assessment: Children will be assessed throughout the year on their understanding of different religious beliefs and drawing comparisons to other religions. We will also assess their ability to compare different ideas to their own beliefs and how these beliefs impact the wider world.

RE-Long-Term-Plan-2022-23-VP-edited.pdf