Vision for Religious Education at Swaffham CofE Primary Academy

Intent

Our school vision is to inspire children, their families and our staff to SHINE, LEARN, BELIEVE and BELONG so our children achieve their very best, leaving us as confident, happy, resilient learners: With knowledge anything is possible. We recognise that our pupils need to explore world issues and develop an understanding of a range of faiths, views and beliefs beyond our local area. 

Religious Education is intertwined with the Statement of Entitlement for RE in Church of England Schools; as a result it fully adheres to and encompasses its aims and objectives which also cover diverse global living and world religions, challenging questions and the concept of religion.

As a member of the DNEAT family, our school maintains its Christian ethos and values. Through inclusion and participation our children will have the opportunity to explore the diversity of the local, national and global community, giving them a sense of belonging and identity in the wider world. RE gives our learners an opportunity to develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate human questions which religion and worldviews address.

Through our Religious Education provision our pupils will have the skills to: 

Learn – know and understand about major world religions and worldviews

Believe – use moral and social skills to reflect on their own beliefs and aspirations

Belong – have a sense of self identity and belonging within their own community while showing respect and tolerance to others

Shine - celebrate their own creativity and resilience through spiritual reflection

Implementation

Our curriculum for Religious Education has been designed to ensure religious literacy and enquiry lies at its heart. We meet the aims of the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus (2019), utilising the Understanding Christianity resource to support our teaching, and we follow the curriculum guidance within the Statement of Entitlement for RE in Church of England Schools. As a church school, Christianity is the primary religion covered and we maintain strong links with local churches and faith groups. Our faith provision is enhanced by daily Collective Worship, much of which is provided by these partners. 

A multi-disciplinary approach to curriculum design provides a balance between theology, philosophy and the human/social sciences:

Theology: This examines where beliefs come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other. 

Philosophy: This is about finding out how and whether things make sense. It deals with questions of morality and ethics. It asks serious questions about reality, knowledge and existence. 

Human/Social Sciences: This explores the diverse ways in which people practice their beliefs, both now and in the past. It engages with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities and societies. 

These three disciplines provide lenses through which each enquiry question is approached. Lessons are delivered by the introduction of a key question; the pupils Engage, Enquire, Explore, Evaluate and Express their learning. All units build upon prior learning and vocabulary to enable the children to become confident, curious and challenging in their outlook on worldviews and beliefs. This provides:

• an appropriate level of challenge
• the opportunity for all children to succeed
• a safe space to critically reflect on their own religious, spiritual and philosophical convictions 
• development of knowledge and skills