Religious Education
Intent
Our aim for our pupils, upon leaving Roundhay St. John’s, is to have developed a broad and balanced view of religion, have had the opportunity to develop their critical thinking and learned how to reflect on their own experiences of religion and those of others. We aim to grow respectful, responsible young people who understand how they and others can ‘live life in all its fullness’. We encourage all children to develop questioning, debating and listening skills. This will enable them to contribute positively both in our local community and society as a whole, with its rich diversity of religions and views. All pupils (covid restrictions permitting) will also visit the place of worship of each of the five major world religions during their time in our school. These visits are at the heart of our school’s vision to be fully inclusive and the experience fosters tolerance and respect amongst our pupils.
Implementation
The teaching of RE uses the ‘Understanding Christianity’ scheme for the teaching of Christianity and the Leeds Diocese framework for teaching other major world religions: Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
Understanding Christianity follows the spiral curriculum below which builds on concepts throughout the children’s school life, ensuring a deeper understanding of the faith and a clear progression of academic skills. By addressing key questions, pupils are encouraged to:
- explore core Bible texts by developing reading and interpretation skills, handling and using biblical texts and making sense of the meaning of texts for Christians;
- understand the impact of these texts on Christians today, by examining how they respond to teachings and put their beliefs into action in diverse ways in the community and the wider world and
- make connections and consider possible implications through evaluating and reflecting on pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.
When studying the five major world religions, pupils are posed with a big question such as ‘What does it mean to be a Hindu living in Britain today?’ We offer children who live that particular faith, the opportunity to be ‘class experts’ which encourages children to learn from their peers and helps everyone to feel valued and respected. Some of these other faiths are covered more than once, so pupils have the opportunity to consolidate prior knowledge as they move through school.
Pupils are given the opportunity to visit all of the places of worship which we study, ensuring they are developing their knowledge, respect and cultural awareness. In addition to the explicit teaching of the five world religions, pupils are exposed to Buddhism, Jainism and Humanism through quality teaching in class.
Asking big questions such as ‘What does it mean to belong?’ and ‘How should we care for the world?’ also offers children the chance to explore their own values, beliefs and come to a greater understanding of where they see themselves fitting into the world.
Opportunities to explore RE through various art forms are given through drama, music and art. We handle artefacts in school, invite visitors to speak about their experiences and hold thematic days and reflection afternoons.
Impact
RE develops the pupils’ understanding, awareness and respect of the world and people around them. It also develops skills such as reading, critical analysis of texts, questioning and empathy as well as complementing the history curriculum at Roundhay St. John’s. In addition, a solid understanding of RE is a springboard to studying other subjects at secondary school such as ethics and sociology.
We use a variety of strategies to evaluate and assess the knowledge, skills and understanding that our children gain as they progress through school. These include, but are not limited to, targets in line with the expectations of ‘Understanding Christianity’ and the Leeds Diocesan syllabus; termly summative assessments; book scrutinies and regular lesson observations. The RE lead teacher also asks for the ‘pupil voice’ on a regular basis to hear opinions from across school about the teaching and value of RE from the children’s perspective.
‘Excellent teaching and learning in Religious Education (RE) enable pupils to explore challenging theological and philosophical concepts in age-appropriate ways. This has a considerable impact on pupils’ personal and spiritual development…. Pupils’ exemplary behaviour is based on deeply-held respect for each other as individuals which enables all to flourish. Difference and diversity are understood and celebrated. ’
SIAMS Inspector: May 2019
