Intent

At Idle CE (A) Primary School, our curriculum intent is rooted within our school vision of Jesus’ promise of “life in all its fullness” (John 10.10). This is in accordance with the Church of England’s Vision for Education. This ‘fullness of life’ s at the heart of our Church School and a high quality Religious Education (RE) curriculum is a key part of our effective Church school.

The principal intent of our RE curriculum is to enable pupils to hold balanced and informed conversations about religion and world views. This principal intent incorporates the following:

· to know about and understand Christianity as a diverse global living faith through the exploration of core beliefs using an approach that critically engages with biblical text.

· to gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and world views, appreciating diversity, continuity and change within the religions and world views being studied.

· to engage with challenging questions of meaning and purpose raised by human existence and experience.

· to recognise the concept of religions and its continuing influence on Britain’s cultural heritage and in the lives of individuals and societies in different times, cultures and places.

· to explore their own religious, spiritual and philosophical ways living, believing and thinking.

· To recognise that RE explores living faith traditions, and that there is diversity within the same religions as well as between different religions.

This intent draws inspiration from the National Plan for Music Education (June 2022).

Implementation

In line with the Statement of Entitlement for Religious Education in Church of England Schools (2019), we implement a high quality sequential RE programme. To meet the statutory requirement for all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools, to teach a full curriculum that prepares pupils for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in modern Britain.

We do this through implementing a curriculum which enables pupils to do the following:

-making sense of belief – identifying and making sense of core religious and non-religious concepts and beliefs; understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions, recognising how and why sources of authority are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.

-understanding the impact – examining how and why people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.

-making connections – reasoning about, reflecting on, evaluating and connecting the concepts, beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas and the ideas to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these ideas and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Parents are advised of their right to withdraw pupils from all or part of RE provision. In the event that pupils are withdrawn, school retains responsibility for their health and safety.

Impact

We aspire for our RE curriculum to enable pupils to become religiously literate and for Jesus’ promise of “life in all its fullness” (John 10.10) to be accessible to all.

We empower our pupils to be able to:

• give a theologically informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith.

• Identify and explain the core beliefs and concepts studied, using examples from texts/sources of authority in religions.

• show an informed and respectful attitude to religions and non-religious world views in their search for God and meaning.

• describe examples of ways in which people use texts/sources of authority to make sense of core beliefs and concepts.

• taking account of the context(s), suggest meanings for texts/sources of authority studied, comparing their ideas with ways in which believers interpret them, showing awareness of different interpretations.

• make clear connections between what people believe and how they live, individually and in communities.

• using evidence and examples, show how and why people put their beliefs into practice in different ways, e.g. in different communities, denominations or cultures.

• engage in meaningful and informed dialogue with those of other faiths and none.

• reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.

• make connections between the beliefs and practices studied, evaluating and explaining their importance to different people (e.g. adherents and non-religious).

• reflect on and articulate lessons people might gain from the beliefs/practices studied, including their own responses, recognising that others may think differently.

• consider and weigh up how ideas studied relate to their own experiences and experiences of the world today, developing insights of their own and giving good reasons for the views they have and the connections they make.

• talk about what they have learnt, how their thinking may have changed and why