RE
Curriculum Intent: Religious Education
Possibilities - To have high aspirations and know all of the opportunities available to them.
Initiative - To take risks, become independent thinkers and be responsible for themselves.
Growth - To recognise and celebrate their own individual journey, understanding their own uniqueness and strengths and those of others
Characteristics of a Theologist:
During their time here at The Avenue, we want our children to:
- Consider their own beliefs and hear about other people’s, developing respect for all
- Engage with a range of questions; asking, exploring and answering them
- Develop an understanding about different ways of life in different religions and beliefs
- Be able to discuss different artefacts including art, stories, photos and religious objects
- Experience visiting places of worship
- Show curiosity about the world around us and a want to find out more
Implementation:
Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding into the following threshold concepts:
- Ourselves
- Celebrations and Festivals
- Special People
- Books and Stories
- Special Places
- Art in Religion
These key concepts underpin the children’s learning through the year groups from Reception to Year 2. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language.
The vertical accumulation of knowledge and skills from Years R to 2 is mapped as follows:
Autumn 1 – Ourselves |
EYFS |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
The children will begin to consider their own sense of belonging. Personal experience, based upon home, school and the local community, will be the key focus for this unit.
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The children will be encouraged to consider what they believe in, both religious and non-religious. They will begin to listen and learn from their peers.
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The children will continue to think about their own beliefs and will begin to make comparisons with others.
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Autumn 2 – Celebrations |
EYFS |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
The children will begin to look at different celebrations and festivals, beginning with their own experiences and looking further to that of their families, classmates and wider community.
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The children will continue to consider their own practices and will also learn about what others do. The main focus for this half term is to learn about the Christian celebration of Christmas.
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The children will learn about and begin to compare different celebrations from different religions.
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Spring 1 – Special People |
EYFS |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
The children will begin to consider who is special to them and their community. They will consider what makes people special.
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Children will consider their own answers to the question, ‘Who is special?’. They will form their own answers based on discussions and learning about others.
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The children will build on their understanding of who is special in Christianity and begin to learn about other religions. They should start to compare what is similar and what is different.
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Spring 2 – Books and stories |
EYFS |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Children will start to understand that some books are special and should be respected. They will learnt that some books have special meanings for some people.
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The focus on this topic is for the children to understand why the Bible is important to Christians.
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Children will be encouraged to think about what people can learn from different books. They will be encouraged to hear and discuss stories from different books and discuss how there are some similarities.
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Summer 1 – Special Places |
EYFS |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
The children will begin to consider that places can be special too. They will think about where is special to them and their community and start to think about why. Ideally the children will visit a religious building.
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Children will consider their own answers to the question, ‘Where is special?’. They will form their own answers based on discussions and learning about others. The children will begin to look at different religious places. Ideally the children will visit a religious building.
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The children will build on their understanding of where is special to different people and why. It would be good to focus on places relevant to the children in the class. They should start to compare what is similar and what is different. Ideally the children will visit a religious building.
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Summer 2 – Religion in Art |
EYFS |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Discuss how religion can be portrayed through art, music, drama. Children could begin to explore these (looking at different art work, listening to music, acting out ideas, making models, yoga etc). *
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Build on from Reception, linking to learning through the year (Stained glass windows, mandalas etc). Children to begin to think how art is used to tell a story. Children may begin to make links to learning throughout the year. ** |
The children can begin to make their own interpretations about religious art, considering what it might mean and symbolise. Can they recognise any similarities and differences? *** |
* See https://www.reonline.org.uk/specials/religion_and_the_arts/ks1/top_page.htm for stimuli for EYFS
** See https://www.reonline.org.uk/specials/religion_and_the_arts/ks1/top_page.htm for stimuli for Year 1
*** See https://www.reonline.org.uk/specials/religion_and_the_arts/ks1/top_page.htm for stumuli for Year 2. How do people express their faith? Expressions of faith unit
Impact
Assessment
Through the explicit teaching of the RE knowledge and skills, both the teachers and the pupils assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. Our assessment systems enable teachers to make informed judgements about the depth of their learning and the progress they have made over time.
Pupil Voice
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Snapshots

