Religious Education

Our RE vision statement

To explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live.

To explore challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.

Intent, Implementation and Impact for RE

Curriculum Intent

We aim for all pupils to:

Identify and explain beliefs in order to make sense of a range of religious and non-religious beliefs.
Make links between beliefs and their impact by looking at how people may live out their lives as a result of their beliefs.
Make connections between religious and non-religious beliefs, concepts, practices and ideas studied, by reflecting on the ideas studied and discerning possible connections between these and their own ways of understanding the world

Curriculum Implementation:

Religious Education is delivered through whole class lessons which are carefully planned to help develop children's understanding of religious and non-religious beliefs. Key concepts are looked at through the lens of a key question for each unit, which is broken down into small steps to ensure all children are able to access the learning. Some children may need additional resources, support and scaffolding. Understanding is developed through reading sacred texts and discussion and children are given opportunities to explain their thinking as part of their RE lessons. This enables children to gain a deep understanding of religious and non-religious beliefs. Children build new learning upon prior knowledge due to the spiral nature of the curriculum. Children are supported through visuals, word banks, sentence starters, the opportunity for group discussion and creative outcomes. They are challenged by being encouraged to engage in deep thinking and reflect on sophisticated questions.

In addition to their Religious Education lessons, the school also welcomes visitors from local faith groups to lead class and whole-school assemblies. These presentations provide an opportunity for reinforcing key learning points and hearing first-hand from an expert about their beliefs. Each year, the school celebrates a festival from one of the four religions that the children learn about: Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. This gives pupils the opportunity to see how a particular festival is celebrated, which enhances their learning further.

Curriculum Impact

As a result of Religious Education planning and teaching at Gloucester Road Nursery and Primary School, we aim for pupils to demonstrate confidence and engagement in their learning due to all being challenged at a level that is appropriate for their needs.

Lessons use a variety of activities, including reading texts, analysing religious art work, discussion, role-play, a creative response, interviewing a representative of a local faith community. This supports learning, and attainment is tracked and monitored to ensure all children make good progress.

At Gloucester Road , a child has understood a belief, its impact and value when they can explain their ideas and make links between the ideas studied and their own ways of understanding the world.

Children should be able to describe religious and non-religious beliefs using appropriate vocabulary, while making connections. Children at Gloucester Road show confidence in believing that they will achieve, and they show a high level of pride in the presentation and understanding of their work.