Religious Education

Religious Education (RE) at Perryfields Infant School

Intent

The intent of our RE curriculum is to engage learners so that they can develop an understanding, appreciation, respect and sensitivity for a wide range of beliefs and cultural practises in the local and wider global community, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own. This promotes discernment and enables pupils to combat prejudice.

EYFS

The children are taught about major world religious and other cultures through the celebration of key festivals (Diwali, Chinese New Year, Christmas etc.) Children will have the opportunities to practise some of the customs and traditions associated with religious festivals in the role play area throughout the course of the year.

They are also taught to identify things special to themselves: people, books, songs and things in the natural world.

The order of skills & knowledge

The children’s interests and the class topic decide the order in which some specific lessons are taught. The time in the year also dictates when specific religious and cultural festival are learned about (Harvest/Easter etc.). The lessons may be teacher-led or independent activities related to the specific religion/festival/culture being learnt about. The RE curriculum is devised from the yearly overview that is taken from the Development Matters document.

How and when we assess

Children are assessed formatively through observations, tick sheets and photographs. They are also assessed every term against the 7 areas of learning (one of which is Understanding the World) and this data is saved on the Early Years Data Spreadsheet.

By the end of the year, we expect children to have met the relevant Early Learning Goals for Understanding the world and have a GLD (specifically ELG – understanding the world – people and communities).

The children can

• Show can show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs, talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.
• Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
• Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

Children who do not meet expectations are supported by being given additional support in class and lesson recaps at the start of each new unit of work.

Key Stage 1

RE is taught every other week as a formal lesson, except for the first term in Year 1 when it is taught through a short lesson every week. Often world religions and important festivals are discussed in assemblies and some elements of the RE curriculum are covered in other subjects as well such as PSHE (Relationships). In addition, the children enjoy enrichment days planned around major world festivals, which allow for hands on learning (Chines New year/Christmas activities/Diwali).

The order of skills & knowledge

In line with the lesson sequence that has been provided for teachers. The lessons are nearly always taught in the order provided, however, sometimes a lesson may be moved to fit in with when another lesson is being taught from a different subject that compliments the subject matter. Our RE curriculum has been devised from materials in Essex’s ‘EXPLORE RE’ scheme of work but has been tailored to suit our children’s need and the diversity of our community.

The structure of each unit of work always includes something special to the Christian faith and something special to at least one other major world faith, and children also reflect on something special to themselves on the same theme (Special symbols, special ways of living etc.). In Year 2, children work to a deeper level (as a result of their developing maturity), building on previous learning and ensuring progress is made.

How and when we assess

Children are assessed at the end of each block of work, usually based on on-going assessment of work in that block but sometimes based on a final Proof of Progress (POP) task. Assessments are saved in a folder on Teams where they can be accessed and tracked by the RE Subject Leader.

By the end of Year 1, we expect the children to be able to:

• identify places special in different religions (church, mosque, synagogue).
• identify stories, books and people special to people of different religions (eg. Rama and Sita, Noah, David, Jesus).
• identify the way nature features in different religions
• identify special ways of living/ ceremonies associated with different religions (eucharist, shabbat, wearing hijab).
• Know the main characters and events in the celebrations of Christmas and Easter and some features of celebrations in other religions eg. Diwali, Mawlid al Nabi, Sukkot, Hanukkah
• Recognise symbols from different religions (cross/ fish from Christianity, Star of David/ Torah/ Menorah, 5Ks of Sikhism).

By the end of Year 2, we expect children to be able to:

• Know about Creation stories in the Bible and in Hinduism
• Understand how and why Christians celebrate harvest festival
• Identify festivals of light in Christianity, Islam and Hinduism
• Learn about special journeys in Christianity and Islam and special places of worship for Hindus
• Learn about special ways of living through learning about elements of Christian baptism and marriage and Hindu puja
• Identify special people in different religions (Jesus, the Trimurti in Hinduism and Buddha)
• Learn about special books and words for different religions (the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Qu’ran)

Children who do not meet Age Related Expectations are supported by being given additional support in class, additional resources such as word banks with picture prompts and lesson recaps at the start of each new unit of work.