Religious Education Vision Statement

What is the vision for Religious Education at The Phoenix Primary School and Nursery?

Intent

Our vision for Religious Education at The Phoenix Primary School and Nursery, is to help children develop their knowledge and understanding of the major world faiths, and address the fundamental questions in life. Religious Education enables children to reflect on what it means to have a faith and to develop their own spiritual knowledge and understanding. We aim to help the children learn from religions as well as about religions. The Religious Education curriculum will motivate them to learn about different faiths and beliefs by:

• Developing an awareness of spiritual and moral issues in life experiences.
• Developing knowledge and understanding of the religious beliefs and practices of Christianity and other major world religions and value systems.
• Developing an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition.
• Being able to reflect on their own experiences and to develop a personal response to the fundamental questions of life.
• Developing an understanding of religious traditions and appreciating the cultural differences in Britain today.
• Developing, investigating and researching skills and to enable them to make reasoned judgements about religious issues.
• Having respect for other peoples’ views and celebrating the diversity in society.

Finally, Religious Education is seen as a discipline that is open to all; regardless of ability, gender, cultural background or ethnicity.

How is this vision for Religious Education to be achieved?

Implementation

Children who take part in Religious Education lessons at the school will, at an appropriate stage, be able to:

• Listen to, read and discuss a range of stories, explicitly religious stories and fiction illustrating aspects of the spiritual dimension of life.
• Access a range of secondary source material, books, films, the Internet, posters;
• Explore a range of creative expression.
• Express individual ideas, opinions, beliefs and disbeliefs.
• Explore the meaning and use of some religious artefacts.
• Reflect upon aspects of the natural world and a selection of natural objects at first hand.
• Visit at least one place of worship and/or have a representative of a religion come into school and inform them about their beliefs.
• Be still and engaged in quiet reflection.
• Work collaboratively with others.
• Have the opportunity to learn that all major world religions have care of the environment as a key part of their belief system.

How does the school know if the Religious Education curriculum has been effective?

Impact

Firstly, children who have followed the school’s Religious Education curriculum will be thoroughly equipped with the key skills, knowledge and vocabulary, to access the more specialised Religious Education curricula at Secondary School. In addition to this, the emphasis on thinking objectively in Religious Education will have prepared children to thoughtfully evaluate what they see and hear in society, and thus discount false or misleading information. Finally, our Religious Education curriculum will also have encouraged children to think practically about how they can contribute to developing a welcoming environment for all.

Assessment

• Learning objectives for each unit will be stamped as ‘achieved’ or ‘working towards’
• At the end of a topic, teachers will complete an assessment tracker by assessing key key skills outlined within the scheme. For example: identify, describe, observe, compare and contrast, reason and evaluate.