Religious Education (RE)
In this section of the website, you will find information about our approach to teaching RE at Witton Gilbert Primary School.
RE Subject Progression
Intent
At Witton Gilbert Primary School, learning in RE is categorised into three elements: Knowledge and Understanding, Critical Thinking and Personal Reflection. The elements are interlinked and enable children to build their religious literacy.
We aim to build pupils’ knowledge and understanding of a range of religious and non-religious worldviews so they can:
- describe and explain beliefs and theological ideas across a range of religious and non-religious worldviews
- describe and explain sources of authority and key teachings within and across these traditions
- explain how beliefs are expressed in different ways
- understand the significance and impact of beliefs and practices on individuals, communities and society
- bring these ideas together to develop a broader understanding of beliefs and practices
Pupils learn about religious diversity locally, nationally and globally, and develop an understanding of both similarities and differences.
Children develop the critical thinking and enquiry skills needed to engage with what they study. They learn to express their views clearly, support them with reasons, and appreciate different perspectives.
Pupils also learn to reflect on religious and non-religious worldviews alongside their own beliefs, values and experiences, and to consider how these shape their daily lives, attitudes and actions.
Intent Linked to our School Values
Childhood and Play
Through stories, role play and the use of religious artefacts, children learn in a child-centred way. Religious Education also helps pupils develop a sense of wonder and appreciation, while encouraging insight, imagination and curiosity.
Respect for Ourselves and Our Environment
In our thematic units, pupils learn how a range of religious and non-religious worldviews promote care for one another and the world. They also reflect on their own ideas, beliefs and experiences of caring for the environment.
Religious Education fosters empathy and respect. It helps pupils develop a strong sense of identity and belonging, while encouraging respect for others’ beliefs, values and ideas.
Equality and Diversity
Through Religious Education, we promote positive attitudes towards pupils’ own beliefs, ideas, experiences, feelings and values, as well as those of others, within a classroom environment that recognises and respects difference. This supports mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs, and helps prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.
Perseverance and Resilience
In RE, enquiry-based learning is used to help children deepen and broaden their understanding through increasingly complex enquiries. This approach actively engages pupils in their learning and develops perseverance and resilience during the process. They also learn to cope with uncertainty and ambiguity.
Collaboration and Cooperation
In RE much of the learning is gained through investigation and discussion. Children will work together as a whole class through activities such as circle time, in small groups for investigation and drama, as well as paired work where ideas are shared and learning is consolidated through ‘partner talk’. Working well together, is a skill in which our children thrive as it is developed in all areas of the curriculum and school environment.
Implementation
Religious Education is a statutory subject for all pupils on the school register. At Witton Gilbert Primary School, it is taught in line with the Durham Agreed Syllabus.
Children’s knowledge and understanding of concepts in RE will become deeper, more complex and more comprehensive. They will develop their critical thinking through the skills of analysis and evaluation in relation to questions raised by their learning in RE personal reflection is developed and deepened through opportunities for children to reflect on their own experiences, feelings, beliefs, values and ideas.
Enquiry questions are central to Religious Education from EYFS to KS2. They help pupils build on prior learning and deepen their understanding through increasingly complex systematic and thematic enquiries, and they are used in every unit of work.
A new enquiry question is introduced each half term. Religious Education is usually taught in a weekly timetabled lesson, although some units, such as Easter and Christmas, may be taught over a full day or afternoon where this better suits the topic or allows more time to explore a theme or question.
Programmes of Study:
EYFS
Pupils are introduced to the idea of special days and festivals within religions. They learn about sacred books and some of the stories from sacred texts. They find out about religious buildings and how they are used for worship.
KS1
Pupils explore the core religions of Christianity and Buddhism. They begin to find out about local faith/religious communities.
KS2
In KS2, pupils build on their KS1 learning by extending and deepening their knowledge of religious beliefs and practices, while beginning to recognise local, national and global contexts. They broaden their subject-specific vocabulary and continue to deepen their understanding of Christianity, alongside learning about other core religions, including Hindu Dharma and Judaism. Pupils also study religious diversity through a focused unit on a local Muslim community. Similarities and differences within and between religious and non-religious worldviews are explored through thematic studies, including how they care for the environment and each other .
Teachers use retrieval activities at the start of each lesson to help pupils remember what they have learned, make connections with prior knowledge, and deepen their understanding.
Subject-specific vocabulary is clearly planned for and taught explicitly in lessons. Children are encouraged to use this language in their own responses.
School trips include visits to places of religious interest, such as St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Witton Gilbert, and an annual Year 4 visit to Durham Cathedral.
High-quality teaching meets the needs of all children. Formative assessment is used during and after lessons to identify misconceptions early and support progress in the subject.
Cultural Capital in RE
Through Religious Education children will:
· visit local buildings of religious interest, including Durham Cathedral where they will have a guided tour and take part in activities about Saint Cuthbert.
· learn from people of faith, such as the priest from the local church and a member of a local Muslim community.
· Using artefacts from Durham Learning Resources, children will have first hand experience of exploring religious artefacts, such as prayer beads (Buddhism), puja tray (Hindu Dharma), Kippah (Judaism), rosary beads (Christianity).
Impact
Children have a positive attitude towards Religious Education and enjoy the range of activities that deepen their knowledge and understanding. They have a keen interest in the history and diversity of religious education and are becoming increasingly confident in critically responding to the material they have learnt, as well as offering personal reflection. Children talk about the worldviews they have studied with enthusiasm and have a clear understanding of the knowledge they have gained. Pupil Voice informs us that many children find this subject fascinating and have a high recall of facts, stories and practices they have been taught. As much of the teaching of RE is based on the cycle of enquiry, the children are also becoming more proficient in giving opinions and supporting their ideas with reason, as well as responding to the views of others with respect.
As well as understanding the fundamental ideas and beliefs of religious and non-religious worldviews, the children are also aware of the impact they have on our everyday lives. The children learn about the charitable work that many religious and non-religious groups organise, including humanitarian aid given to people around the world who need help due to issues of war. The children also engage in these charitable events by donating food, essential items or money at various points across the year.