Queen's Crescent School

QUEEN’S CRESCENT SCHOOL

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION POLICY

Rationale

“Our belief is that, using an enquiry-based model well, children’s critical thinking skills can be developed, their motivation to learn increased, and their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise, will be enhanced.

This approach takes very seriously the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief. RE does not try to persuade but rather to inform and develop the skills with which evaluation can take place.”

Discovery RE, Scheme of Learning 2013

At Queen’s Crescent School we recognise the importance of Religious Education in the development of a mature and well-adjusted individual. Religious education can provide a rich and wide range of experiences inside and outside the classroom which give children opportunities to develop concepts and skills that will help them to make sense of their own experiences and beliefs, and to understand the beliefs and practices of members of faith communities.

It is a statutory requirement that schools teach Religious Education as prescribed by the locally agreed syllabus. At Queen’s Crescent School this means the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education for Wiltshire. To further support our planning and teaching of RE, we follow the enquiry based scheme of learning, ‘Discovery RE’.

Aims

At Queen’s Crescent School we value individuals and encourage a sense of self-respect and respect for others. The place of RE in the curriculum is an acknowledgement of the fact that religious beliefs and practices play an important part in the lives of many people world wide and have done so throughout history. As such RE provides our children with examples and opportunities to help them develop sensitivity, tolerance and empathy towards others. The Principle Aim of the 2011 Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus is: To engage pupils in enquiring into key questions arising from the study of religion and belief, so as to promote their personal and spiritual development. This aim should be written at the top of all termly RE planning.

In Religious Education we aim that the children might:-

• Develop a knowledge and understanding of Christianity and its impact on our local community, and on our society today;
• Develop a knowledge and understanding of some of the other principle religious traditions (mainly Judaism and Islam) represented in Great Britain today;
• Develop a sense of respect for religious traditions, beliefs and practice;
• Grow in their spiritual development;
• Develop a sense of awe and wonder and mystery;
• Develop skills and attitudes which will support their personal, moral, social and cultural development;
• Explore some questions of meaning and consider how the world’s religions have responded to them;
• Think about their own beliefs and values in the light of the beliefs of others, both religious and non religious, and the values of the school community;
• Begin to reflect upon their own needs, experiences and questions and to confront what are sometimes referred to as ‘ultimate questions’;
• Start to develop open minds to new and different concepts and to form their own opinions based on evidence and argument;
• Learn from religions in addition to gaining knowledge and understanding about religions.

Approaches to teaching

At Key Stage 1 and 2, children follow the ‘Discovery RE’ planning which fulfils the requirements of both the approach and content of the current Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus.

Christianity is taught in every year group, with Christmas and Easter taught on a yearly basis, developing the learning in a progressive way. Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism are also covered with a greater emphasis on Judaism and Islam, which are introduced in Key Stage 1 and re- visited in KS2.

Each unit of work, supported by the ‘Discovery RE’ scheme of Learning, is led by a key question and the organisation of the planning and delivery of the lessons is split into 4 main parts throughout the term: Engagement (beginning with the children’s own experiences); Investigation (The teacher guides the children through the enquiry, developing their subject knowledge); Evaluation (drawing together the children’s learning and their conclusions about the key question of that enquiry and finally Expression: Children are taken back to Step 1, their own experience, to reflect on how this enquiry might have influenced their own starting point/beliefs, etc.

In Foundation Stage, the children also follow ‘Discovery RE’; learning about special people, celebrations and festivals, special places and special stories. At this early stage in their school life, it is felt more appropriate to foster an awareness of and an interest in various religions, often in a more informal and spontaneous way, especially relating to those within our own community. Opportunities for RE support their Personal, Social and Emotional Development and their Understanding of the World: 2 areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

The basic outline of the coverage of Religions taught at Queen’s Crescent School, as supported by ‘Discovery RE’ and set out in the RE Rolling Programme is as follows:

 

Across all key stages, children will sometimes “Encounter” a faith not taught as a major focus, for example, Hinduism, Sikhism or other faith traditions with a local presence and world views. This may be done through the annual World Faith Day/s. An example of this was when Year 3/4 focused on Sikhism upon establishing a link with a school in Bristol, which had a significant Sikh population.

In order that RE becomes part of the topic approach we employ at Queen’s Crescent, if another faith fits more obviously within the topic being covered, then this maybe covered at the teaching team’s discretion.

The teaching teams plan RE lessons, focusing on two Attainment targets:

Attainment target 1: Learning about religions (developing children’s knowledge and understanding of religions and religious beliefs).

Attainment target 2: Learning from religion (Focusing on children’s responses, evaluations and application of questions).

Children will have the opportunity to respond to material in a variety of ways. This may be through: stories, websites, reports on visits, art work, design technology, music, drama, discussions and displays or through drawing upon their own behaviour and experiences.

Resources

We have a growing number of RE resources, which include:

• a set of Lion’s First Bible in each teaching unit;
• a set of Good News Bibles ;
• a set of ‘Faiths and Celebrations’ CD roms;
• 2 trays of Christianity related artefacts;
• 2 trays of Judaism related artefacts
• a tray of Islam related artefacts;
• a tray of Hinduism related artefacts
• a tray of Sikhism related artefacts
• various books on different world faiths, including big books, in the library and in the above boxes;
• a current copy of the Wiltshire RE scheme of work.

Good use is made of ‘espresso’ and relevant websites/ online Bible stories etc.

Community Cohesion

RE has an important part to play in the school’s contribution to community cohesion. The subject leader’s previous Action Plans reflect the ongoing efforts to build on our existing good work in this area. The school has established links with members of various faith communities. These are demonstrated through assemblies and World Faith Days. Links are well established between the school and two local churches as well as the town’s Salvation Army (used to support RE lessons, Christmas carol services and wider areas of school life, e.g. Ladyfield church has been used to support a Y5/6 topic on World War 2 as it acted as an evacuation base).

Assessment

The schools’ assessment policy gives a detailed account of how assessment is carried out in the school. Each teacher will be responsible for the regular assessment of their children through teacher set tasks, focused observations, questioning of the children and review of the children’s work. The Wiltshire Agreed Syllabus outlines the relevant levels through which children can be assessed within RE. Medium term plans should be annotated to reflect children who have achieved the learning objective as well as those who require more support, or those who have exceeded expectations. ‘Discovery RE’ sets out guidelines for setting a termly assessment question. We are currently trialling some of these opportunities for assessment with the aim of establishing a consistent whole school approach. Parents will be informed of their child’s progress at parent’s evenings and through the annual and interim reports.

Curriculum Links

The children will experience RE in a variety of ways in school and increasingly through Cross Curricular planning. Sometimes it will be linked into a topic and sometimes it will be taught as a separate lesson. In Key Stage 2, RE is taught as part of a weekly rotation by one teacher. This teacher is then responsible for informing other teaching colleagues of the children’s progress/learning in this curriculum area. This policy is supported by a range of policies on, for example, learning, assessment and special needs that will guide and support the work describe in this policy.

Equal Opportunities and the right of Withdrawal from RE

At Queen’s Crescent school we wish to be an inclusive community but recognise that parents, of course, have the legal right to withdraw their children from religious education on the grounds of conscience. We would ask any parent considering this to contact the head teacher to discuss any concerns or anxieties they may have about the policy, provision and practice of religious education at school.

Roles and Responsibilities

This policy has been developed through consultation between staff and between the subject leader, head teacher and governing body. The head teacher, deputy and subject leader monitor and evaluate the work achieved by the children in this area. The leader identifies areas for development, resource needs and helps in the moderation of standards across the school. The leader works with their link governor so that they are aware of such issues. The leader also liaises with the link governor about visits to and from our school. The link governor will also keep the governing body informed about developments in this area.

Monitoring and evaluation

It is expected that each teacher will be responsible for the regular assessment of their pupils through marking work set. Children in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 create class floor books and/or display work in topic books. In Key Stage 2 the children will document key aspects of their learning in either floor books, topic books or English books. Teachers are encouraged to adopt a practical approach to RE lessons and it is not expected that children produce written work during each RE lesson. Work that is recorded, along with pupil interviews will be used by the subject leader to track pupil progress through the school and will be used by the class teacher to ensure that each pupil is set work that is appropriately challenging.