Religious Education

INTENT

The intent of Pensby Primary’s Religious Education curriculum is to encourage pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging. Our curriculum enables them to flourish individually and within their communities and coexist as citizens in modern society and a global community. Our approach to the teaching of RE prepares our pupils for adult life, employment and lifelong learning, whilst also enabling our pupils to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different to theirs. 

IMPLEMENTATION

Pensby Primary school follows the key themes from the Wirral Syllabus for teaching religious education and other world faiths. The long term planning for teaching RE and world faiths in each year group reflects a spiral curriculum. Each year group teaches Christianity and has one other world faith as a focus throughout the year. Year groups have links each half term to a world faith that has been taught previously enabling revisiting and embedding of learning. This also allows pupils to make links and comparisons between the different faiths and further allows for clear progression in learning. This progression is evident in pupils books and through pupil voice along with teachers’ medium term planning which shows clear links to prior learning and intended outcomes for new teaching and learning opportunities.

RE lessons are taught as part of a half-termly theme of work and meaningful links have been developed with other subject areas so that children can make connections within their learning in RE and that from other subjects.  However, we recognise that some units within our RE curriculum are best taught in discrete lessons so that the knowledge, skills and understanding can be taught effectively. We use a range of teaching and learning styles, including activities such as discussion, role-play, religious stories, games, circle-time, problem-solving activities, use of artefacts and outdoor learning. At Pensby Primary School, children are informed about a variety of religious festivals that take place throughout the year to demonstrate how people with different religious beliefs live and worship alongside each other. 

IMPACT

The impact of the Religious Education curriculum at Pensby Primary is that pupils have a good knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other principal religions so that they are ready for the next stage of their education. Pupils are confident to ask challenging questions about their lessons and the teachings of RE and pupil voice shows that children enjoy their RE lessons, gaining a deep awareness and appreciation of all world faiths. Our children respond to their lessons with thought and care when reflecting, considering and analysing the issues of truth, belief, faith and ethics.