Intent    

At Enfield Academy, our intent is to ensure that Religious Education (RE) contributes dynamically to children and young people’s education in schools by provoking 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. 

We follow the Lincolnshire Agreed Syllabus using the Jigsaw RE scheme of work. Jigsaw RE is an enquiry-based scheme of work, covering the principal world faiths and humanism in a progressive way from nursery to Year 6. In the early years, the learning is closely matched to Development Matters to contribute meaningfully to your child’s holistic development. Throughout all the enquiries, the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is carefully considered.

In RE, our pupils will learn about and from religions and worldviews in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. They learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response, and to agree or disagree respectfully.

The RE Curriculum will equip pupils with substantive knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews, enabling them to develop their ideas, values and identities. It will develop in pupils an aptitude for dialogue so that they can participate positively in our society with its diverse religions and worldviews. Pupils will gain and deploy the skills needed to understand, interpret and evaluate texts, sources of wisdom and authority and other evidence. They will learn to articulate clearly and coherently their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences while respecting the right of others to differ.

 

RE, British Values and SMSC:

Enfield Academy actively promotes the British values of:

  • democracy 
  • the rule of law 
  • individual liberty 
  • mutual respect 
  • tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

 

Our RE curriculum provides a balance between three disciplines. These are: Theology, Philosophy and Human/Social Sciences (or Believing, Living and Thinking).

 

RE lessons offer a structured and safe space during curriculum time for reflection, discussion, dialogue and debate. Excellent teaching of RE enables pupils to learn to think for themselves about British values. In RE, pupils learn the skills and develop attitudes that help protect themselves and others from harm throughout their lives. Actively promoting British values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school and the wider community, which are contrary to British Values. 

 

Early Years Foundation Stage

Pupils are introduced to the concept of religions through discussions about the ‘specialness’ of people, places and things. Pupils are taught about traditions, beliefs and world views outside of their own experiences through exploring other cultures and practices in the wider world.

RE contributes in these ways to the specific areas of the early learning goals:

Communication and language

  • respond creatively, imaginatively and meaningfully to memorable experiences;
  • use a religious celebration as a stimulus and talk about the special events associated with it;
  • learn about important religious celebrations through artefacts, stories, music, etc.

Personal, social and emotional development (PSED)

  • use some stories from religious traditions as a stimulus to reflect on their own experiences and explore them
  • use role play as a stimulus and talk about some of the ways that people show love and concern for others and why this is important
  • think about issues of right and wrong and how humans help one another
  • demonstrate a developing awareness of their own needs, views and feelings and be sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others
  • show a developing respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people
  • show an understanding of what is right, wrong and why.

Literacy

  • listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, songs, music, rhymes and poems and make up some of their own
  • extend their vocabulary, exploring the meaning and sounds of new words

Understanding the world

  • begin to learn and become aware of their own cultures, beliefs and those of other people
  • ask questions about religion and culture as they encounter them in everyday experiences
  • visit places of worship, learn new words associated with these places and show respect towards them
  • talk about similarities and differences between themselves and others, among families, communities and traditions.

Expressive arts and design

  • explore and play with a wide range of media and materials and have opportunities and encouragement to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities
  • use religious artefacts as a stimulus to enable them to think about and express meanings associated with the artefact.

 

Key Stage One

During this key stage, pupils are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through religion and belief as well as wider learning themes. They are introduced to other world religions and can reflect on prior learning as they progress through the units. Christianity, Islam and Judaism are the key focuses.

 

Key Stage Two

During this key stage, pupils are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through deeper enquiry into known religions and secular world views. Pupils consider the impact of beliefs and practices in greater detail and respond to questions that are more philosophical. In KS2, Christianity, Islam, Santana Dharma and Judaism are the key focuses. 

 

Implementation

Jigsaw RE separates the focus of each half term’s learning into ‘enquiries’. Each enquiry lasts for half a term and begins with a “big” question such as “What is the best way for a Christian to show commitment to God?” The children then start discussing the theme of the enquiry (in this case, commitment) from their own experience.

Only when the children fully understand the concept they are considering, do they then move on to investigating what the people following the studied religion or worldview believe about it. They will spend approximately 3 lessons on this, learning in a variety of ways, so they can adapt their responses and come to a measured conclusion. In week 5 they will complete an activity which can assess their learning, by answering their “big” question. This demonstrates the level of critical thinking that the children can apply – a valuable skill for them throughout the school curriculum.

The final week in every enquiry gives the children time to reflect on what they have learnt about the concept and apply to it their own lives, thus allowing them to form their own beliefs and identity. These lessons are often very creative and children have opportunities to make items to express themselves in ways other than just writing.

Impact

  • Children are highly skilled to discuss, think deeply and ask 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. 
  • Children have a deep knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs.
  • Children leave school, having learned to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, able to express their insights in response, and to agree or disagree.
  • Children can keep themselves safe from the risk of radicalisation.
  • Children are instilled with British Values and a courage to stand up against those who show disrespect for such values, through ignorance and fear.

 

Religious Education Curriculum Documentation

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