Religious Education (RE)

Intent

At Dinglewell Infant School we believe Religious Education is an opportunity to celebrate and foster awareness of the differences and diversity of the local community and world around us. We aim to develop children’s understanding and appreciation of beliefs and traditions of individuals and communities to widen their understanding of the world around them. We inspire children to explore, understand and respond to important questions arising from religion and belief and want our children to have their own sense of identify and belonging in today’s diverse and ever-changing world. We aim to succeed in children having the knowledge and understanding of a range of religious traditions and beliefs to promote their personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We want our children to leave our school having a mutual respect and positive attitude towards other people who hold different beliefs and their learning to have a positive impact on their lives. 

At Dinglewell Infant School we:

• Develop children's understanding and appreciation of beliefs and traditions of individuals and communities to widen their understanding of the world around them
• Inspire children to explore, understand and respond to important questions arising from religion and belief and inspire them to have their own sense of belonging
• Succeed in children having the knowledge and understanding of a range of religious traditions and beliefs to promote their personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. To have a mutual respect and positive attitude towards other people who hold different beliefs and their learning to have a positive impact on their lives.  

Implementation

Our RE learning is informative, engaging and challenging, allowing children to gain a developing understanding of the range of religious and non-religious world views. We use the Gloucestershire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education as the basis of our curriculum. The principal aim of this syllabus is ‘to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.’

The syllabus reflects Gloucestershire’s population, which means we will ensure our children can have understanding of the four main religions within Gloucestershire: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. We recognise the variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds from which our pupils come. We are sensitive to the home background of each child and we welcome the diversity of their beliefs. The Agreed Syllabus has big questions which are the focus of each term (see knowledge and skills progression). These big questions encourage our children to ask questions and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We believe this is a valuable way to build understanding of world views and to develop specialist vocabulary allowing for greater depth and discussion.

The big questions take into account the core concepts of RE stated in the Agreed Syllabus:

• Making sense of beliefs
• Understanding the impact
• Making connections

We make the curriculum engaging and inspiring to ensure all of our children reach their potential. We do this by providing a range of different discussion-based lessons in which children can ask questions and reflect. We ensure a range of different outcomes including artwork, group activities, role-play, outdoor activities and so on. We also use our wider community to support the teaching of Religious Education. We have regular ‘Open the Book’ assemblies and welcome other visitors from a range of faiths. Reception and Year 1 visit the local Church in Term 5 and Year 2 visit Gloucester Cathedral in Term 3.

We make no presumptions to religious backgrounds and beliefs of all of our staff and children. We value the religious backgrounds of all members of our school community enabling children to feel confident to share their own experiences and views freely. At Dinglewell, our school values underpin everything we do and this is how they are linked closely to RE:

Care – we want our children to show care of individuals, communities and the world around us that may have different beliefs to us.

Co-operation – we work together to learn about a range of religious and non-religious traditions and beliefs. We work together no matter what the differences are in our beliefs.

Creativity – we provide the children with a variety of opportunities to creative an inclusive learning environment. Children may learn through; PE (dance), Open the Book assemblies, art, school visitors or trips. 

Honesty – we create a safe and respectful environment where children are honest about our beliefs and what we may feel.

Respect – we want the children to have a mutual respect and positive attitude for their peers and the individuals, groups and communities of the different beliefs and religions. This will enable them to have a greater respect for the world around them.

Responsibility – we want the children to be responsible for their opinions and beliefs and have their own sense of identify and belonging in today’s diverse and ever-changing world.

Impact

Our curriculum is designed to give every child a life-long love of learning, gain knowledge and acquire skills which are important to prepare children for life beyond Dinglewell.  Through their RE learning children will be able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and the wider world.

It offers children to understand how other people choose to live and why they choose to live in that way. RE links closely with so many other aspects of school life and learning. It is invaluable in an ever-changing world.

Assessment opportunities are identified in each unit of work and response are recorded along with any next steps.

Assessments will allow progress to be seen and evidence of work will show secure knowledge coverage and development with cross-curricular links where necessary.

RE is monitored by the Subject Leader throughout the year looking at work, planning, talking with the children, learning walks and supporting staff in the delivery of RE.