The Doncaster SACRE Agreed syllabus for Religious Education 2019-2024, runs alongside our Broad and Balanced Curriculum and reinforces the importance of RE as an academic discipline. It is a broad and balanced curriculum that enables understanding of concepts and the development of skills, attitudes and their Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural development, our pupils can explore wider issues of religion and belief in religiously literate ways, promoting respect and open mindedness towards others with different faiths and beliefs. It encourages pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging through self-awareness and reflection. This syllabus engages the pupils in an enquiry approach and prepares the children and young people for active citizenship in a diverse and rapidly changing world, exploring some aspects of British Values in relation to religions and worldviews. Doncaster is a vibrant and unique community in a region of wide diversity of religion and belief. The population of Yorkshire and Humberside includes large communities of Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jewish people, Buddhists and Sikhs. Many children come from families that hold non-religious life stances such as Humanism. RE taught using this syllabus allows all learners to share their experiences and to learn from one another and the religions and beliefs in our community.
Aim
RE explores big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can make sense of religion, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.
The Key aims for Religious Education are reflected in the three attainment targets
Attainment 1 – Know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews
Attainment 2 - Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews.
Attainment 3 - Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews.
Religious Education is unique in the curriculum and an important subject. At Rosedale we promote a questioning and enquiring based approach, which is covered within our Doncaster SACRE Agreed syllabus for Religious Education 2019-2024.
The syllabus is based around a key question approach, where the questions open up the content to be studied.
Believing - (Religious beliefs, teachings, sources; questions about meaning, purpose and truth)
Expressing - (Religious and spiritual forms of expression; questions about identity and diversity)
Living - (Religious practices and ways of living; questions about values and commitments)
The key question outlines give structured support in terms of ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ and ‘exceeding’ learning outcomes and suggested content, to enable good planning and progression. RE is taught once a week in each year group in 40 – 50 Minute sessions.
Suggested Delivery of Activities through -
Discussion, Questioning, Hot seat, P4C, Enquiry / Research, Stories, Books, Art, Music, Songs/ Hymns, Prayer, Drama, poetry, Visits within School and out in the Local Community, use of Artefacts, using the Local Multicultural Loan Base Services or Artefact Resources we have within Rosedale.
RE Theme Days – Library Books, dedicated section and display.
EYFS
The Agreed Syllabus for RE sets out experiences and opportunities and appropriate topics for children in the Foundation Stage. Children in EYFS encounter religions and worldviews through special people, books, times, places and objects and by visiting places of worship. They listen to and talk about stories. Children are introduced to subject specific words and use all their senses to explore beliefs, practices and forms of expression. They ask questions and reflect on their own feelings and experiences. They use their imagination and curiosity to develop their appreciation of and wonder at the world in which they live. Evidence is displayed in the Pupils Learning Journey Files and in the Classroom Environment.
KEY STAGE 1
Pupils in Key Stage 1 develop their knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, recognising their local, national and global contexts. During the key stage, pupils are taught knowledge, skills and understanding through learning about Christians and Muslims or Jewish people. They use basic subject specific vocabulary. They raise questions and begin to express their own views in response to the material they learn about and in response to questions about their ideas. Evidence is displayed in the Pupils Topic books and displayed in the Classroom Environment.
KEY STAGE 2
Pupils in Key Stage 2 extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and worldviews, recognising their local, national and global contexts. They are introduced to an extended range of sources and subject specific vocabulary. They are encouraged to be curious and to ask increasingly challenging questions about religion, belief, values and human life. Pupils learn to express their own ideas in response to the material they engage with, identifying relevant information, selecting examples and giving reasons to support their ideas and views. Key Stage 2, pupils are taught knowledge, skills and understanding through learning about Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jewish people. Evidence is displayed in the Pupils Topic books and displayed in the Classroom Environment.
SEND
There is freedom in the syllabus to adapt our RE to meet the needs of SEND pupils. RE can enable pupils with the most complex of needs to develop an awareness of themselves, their feelings, their emotions and their senses. Multi-sensory approaches bring the possibility of introducing spiritual experiences. Social development can be delivered and experienced through story, music, shared experience and ritual. RE can also enable pupils to make links with their own lives.
In RE, by the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant Programme of Study, as in all subjects of the curriculum. The expectation is that pupils’ achievements will be weighed up by teachers using criteria arising from the Programmes of Study.
The learning outcomes in this syllabus support teachers in assessing whether pupils are on track
to meet end of key stage expectations. Assessment requires teachers to know what individual pupils know and can do. The learning outcomes on each key question outline will help teachers to assess this and to devise appropriate learning activities to enable pupils to secure their understanding and skills.
Subject Coordinators monitor with Lesson drop ins, viewing evidence in Topic books, Knowledge organisers talking to pupils, (Pupil Voice), feedback from Teachers and HLTA’s, Offering Advice.
CPD Training Undertaken and delivered to staff.
All HLTAs who teach RE will take part in a RE Lesson Study, Collaborating.
As RE involves a process of personal development and emerging and changing views, it is difficult to formally assess.
Teachers/HLTAs will assess what pupils know about religions, what their attitudes are to religions and how well they are able to express their own views and feelings towards other religions to inform their judgements and use the Foundation Subject Assessment forms at the end of every term to record. This will then formally be reported to parents as part of the pupil’s end of year report.