Religious Education – Cheetwood Primary School

RE

Subject Leader: Mr Nordon

“We should all consider each other as human beings and we should respect each other.” – Malala Yousafzai

Intent

At Cheetwood Primary School we provide our pupils with a coherent, challenging and inspiring Religious Education curriculum that provides them with the knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews in order to participate in a modern, diverse Britain.

The RE curriculum at Cheetwood gets children to think about and answer 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 provide children with opportunities to learn about and from a wide variety of religions and worldviews, while encouraging and teaching them to respect the rights of others and their beliefs as well as reflect on their own beliefs, ideas and ways of living.

Topics are informed by the Manchester SACRE Agreed Syllabus 2022 – 2027, whose principle aim is to “engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.” The RE curriculum at Cheetwood is carefully planned and structured to ensure that current learning is linked to previous learning.

We ensure children know more, understand more and remember more. When planning RE at Cheetwood, we are sensitive to, take into account and celebrate and value the wide and diverse beliefs of our pupils and whole school community.

Implementation

The RE Curriculum at Cheetwood Primary follows the Manchester Agreed Syllabus which is a collaboration between 5 Greater Manchester authorities and is supported by Manchester SACRE. RE lessons build upon prior learning and develop skills year on year.

There are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the pupils 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 pupils. These religions taught are revisited through age groups from Years 1 to 6. We aim for every child to understand the key principles of each religion and know how these impact on daily life.

The overview of RE curriculum planning has been organised in year groups to make staff aware of the topics to teach in different Years and Key Stages. The plans and objectives are linked to our skills progression document and enable progression and consistency throughout the school, this ensures that prior knowledge and skills are revisited and built on as pupils progress through the school.

The school believes that it is important for all pupils to have access to opportunities for spiritual development and awareness and understanding of the great religious traditions. All pupils are given the opportunity to access the curriculum at their level and are provided with the resources required to enhance their understanding. They are given opportunities to discuss their ideas and beliefs. Our RE curriculum is enhanced further with trips to places of worship in our local area, religious visitors and the use of artefacts and engaging resources to stimulate questions, discussion and understanding.

Impact

Our Religious Education Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If pupils are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes;
Tracking of gains comparing the cold and hot tasks
Pupil discussions about their learning;

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

Safeguarding Notice