Subject Policy

Religious Education (RE) Policy

How do we teach Religious Education?

Intent:

Here, at Longton Primary School, the aim of Religious Education is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain; to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school.  At Longton Primary, Religious Education plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, particularly PSHE, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children.

Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers

All children will have Quality First Teaching. Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs. As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.

Arrangements made for pupils withdrawn from RE.

Parents of a pupil at a community, foundation or voluntary school have a right to withdraw their children from religious education. If a parent asks for their child to be wholly or partly excused from attending any RE the school must comply unless the request is withdrawn. Any parent who wishes this may consult the Headteacher. Teachers may also withdraw from the teaching of RE.

Implementation

At Longton, it has been agreed that Religious Education is taught in accordance with the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus of Religious Education 2016, which follows the requirement of the Education Reform Act 1988 that the syllabus “shall reflect the fact the religious traditions in Great Britain, are in the main Christian, whilst taking into account the teaching and practices of the other principle religions represented in Great Britain.”

The following religions have been selected for study: 

• Christianity
• Islam
• Judaism
• Hinduism  
• Buddhism

As Christianity is the predominant religion in the school's pupil population and in the community surrounding the school, Christianity is the chosen faith for Progressed Study.  There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff.  We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely.  All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community.  We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils.  We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children. 

Due to the area we live, work and play being predominantly white British we have a strong link with a school that is 90% plus EAL with the predominant religion being Muslim. 

Impact

The children at Longton Primary enjoying learning lots about other religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion.  Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world.  R.E. acts as a hub, therefore, between social aspects of learning, science and geography.  Through R.E. our children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community.

R.E. offers our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way. As such, R.E. is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.

Our RE curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression.  We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discreet vocabulary progression also form part of the units of work.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
• Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
• Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
• Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
• Marking of written work in books.

 

The results are collated by SACRE and published in their annual report.