“RE plays an important role in preparing pupils for adult life, employment and lifelong learning. It helps children and young people become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. It gives them the knowledge, skills and understanding to discern and value truth and goodness, strengthening their capacity for making moral judgements and for evaluating different types of commitment to make positive and healthy choices.”

Religious Education in Schools 2010

RE provides opportunities for children and young people to reflect and analyse, to discuss and debate, to explore and discover, and to learn more about the world in which they live.

Intent of our Religious Education Provision

At Whitehouse Community Primary School, we aim to provide our pupils with a diverse and engaging curriculum exploring many areas of religion and culture. Our school aims to allow pupils to explore and understand the multi-cultural world around them with both curiosity and respect. Many opportunities are provided for pupils to explore religions in a variety of ways; such as external visits to places of worship as well as visitors coming into our school to share information. It is our belief that exposing children to these religions will allow them to be not only curious about the wider world but more importantly understanding and tolerant of others’ beliefs.

Implementation of our Religious Education Provision

Our RE curriculum follows the highly recommended programme ‘Discovery RE’. This resource provides full coverage of the required key skills and an abundance of engaging activities accessible to all our pupils. Throughout the course of a year all pupils will be exposed to six different RE units, these are all based on a key question. The planned units are progressive and allow pupils to build upon prior knowledge as they move through the key stages. Additionally, our RE curriculum aims to allow children to partake in varied activities to develop their knowledge. Role play and discussion are used to engage pupils which progresses into group discussions, presentations and finally the recording of key ideas. In every year group, a range of carefully written targets guide teachers to plan and assess children’s RE learning.

RE is mostly taught through discrete RE lessons or whole school RE days, but where possible cross-curricular links will be made, for example studying the religious beliefs of different Historical people or cultures. All RE lessons are differentiated using our three-step learning objectives and gold challenges. RE targets are displayed on the learning objective so children are aware of the skill they are developing. RE lessons are also closely linked to our SMSC curriculum and where possible this, along with our Whitehouse Way and Golden Rules, will be embedded within our RE lessons. Teachers are encouraged to plan as many educational visits or guest speakers as possible to support and enrich the learning of RE within their year group.

Impact of our Religious Education Provision

RE helps young people develop beliefs and values, and promotes the virtues of respect and empathy, which are important in our school and diverse society we live in today.

• Pupils have well-rounded knowledge of religious beliefs and figures and how they have shaped the world and their daily lives. Work is evidenced in learning journals and displays around the school.
• Pupils enjoy RE lessons and are motivated to learn about other’s beliefs, opportunities for discussion allow all pupils to take part in lessons with less pressure on written skills, increasing engagement and breaking down barriers to achievement.
• Our pupils’ increased religious awareness not only helps our children understand the world but also understand each other, creating our school’s positive and inclusive environment and helps pupils understand and have empathy for other pupils in our school.
• Giving pupils the freedom to share opinions with no judgement increases pupils’ confidence, reduces anxiety and increases their understanding and acceptance of others.
• Teacher assessment, peer assessment and pupils’ self-assessment are used to track progress and attainment. Assessments are recorded and monitored on classroom monitor and analysed through pupil-progress meetings termly.