RE 

Intent

Religious Education (RE) has a significant role in the development of pupil’s spiritual, moral, cultural and social development. The intent of our RE curriculum is to teach pupils to learn from and about religion to help them understand the world around them.

Our curriculum for RE is based upon the units contained within the locally agreed syllabus for Calderdale, Kirklees and Leeds 2024-2029. In addition, as a Church of England School we also following the supplementary unit, ‘Salvation’ from Understanding Christianity which allows us to further explore the meaning and significance of the Christian faith and further develop the school’s distinctively Christian character and ethos.

It is the aim of our RE curriculum to:

• Allow the children to learn through an enquiry based approach; develop their ability to ask and answer questions.
• Develop pupil’s knowledge of Christianity and other religions and their traditions.
• Show pupils how beliefs influence people’s lives.
• Allow children to explore their own beliefs and values.
• Develop respect and understanding for others with differing beliefs.
• Understand how of our School Vision is for the common good of all our school community

Implementation

Our curriculum for RE is based upon the units contained within the locally agreed syllabus for Calderdale, Kirklees and Leeds 2024-2029.

As we are a Church Of England School and Christianity is the predominant religion in the school’s pupil population and in the community surrounding the school, Christianity is the chosen faith for extended study. We also follow the supplementary unit, ‘Salvation’ from Understanding Christianity which allows us to further explore the meaning and significance of the Christian faith.

Children also have the opportunity to study the following faiths;

• Islam
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Sikhism
• Paganism 

In line with other foundation subjects, we teach RE in blocks as we believe this enables pupils to become immersed in their learning; helps embed concepts in their long-term memory and enables them to apply new knowledge, skills and understanding.

The syllabus requires schools to focus on specific core religions at each Key Stage:

• EYFS – Pupils should encounter religions and other world views through special people, times, place books, and objects. They should listen to and talk about stories from a range of different religions and world views. Material should be drawn from Christianity and at least one other religion’s tradition.

Here, the children will also focus on gaining a knowledge and understanding of not only themselves and their close families but also the world around them.

• KS1 – Children should have a main focus on Christianity and a range of other faiths and beliefs, including, Islam and Judaism

Here, the children will also begin to ask their own questions and form their opinions including on moral questions, for example, what is right and wrong.

• KS2 - The knowledge and depth of understanding is expanded in KS2 within Christianity and other beliefs. 

Here, children will also deepen their knowledge of religion at local, national and global levels as well as non-religious views.

At Christ Church, we recognise the need to embed learning by revisiting and recalling previously learned knowledge at the start of each new topic. To achieve this, we use Knowledge Organisers; detailing the links to previous learning, the key vocabulary and the sticky knowledge that we wish them to gain during that topic. The Knowledge Organisers are referred to throughout the topic teaching. An example of RE knowledge organisers are found on each of the class pages within the web-site.

We ensure that there is a clear progression to the RE topics that we teach to ensure children’s thinking is challenged. For example:

• In year 1 the children echo their teaching and learning form the foundation stage by starting with the topic ‘Which books and stories are important?'
• In year 2 the children gain a knowledge and understanding of how faiths can make good choices before deepening their knowledge of the Hindu faith by exploring the topic ‘How do Hindu stories help believers live their lives?’
• In year 4 the children begin with revisiting their knowledge of traditional stories and deepening their understanding through learning the ancient stories in different religions and beliefs, 'How do ancient stories influence modern celebrations?'

Christ Church Pellon Website Link

Curriculum Policies

To see all of our policies concerning the curriculum click the link below:

Curriculum Policies