Religious Education
RE Intent
At Walworth School we aim to ‘significantly improve the quality of all our children’s lives’ delivering a rich and varied curriculum whilst developing the following key curriculum drivers:
- Knowledge and Skills.
- Emotional Awareness.
- Citizenship.
- Independence.
- Life experiences and understanding.
Our curriculum drivers shape our curriculum breadth. They have been developed from an exploration of the backgrounds of our pupils, our beliefs about high-quality education and our values. They are used to ensure we give our pupils appropriate and ambitious curriculum opportunities. We recognise that many of our children have had limited exposure to different cultures and beliefs. We therefore plan to offer them wide and varied opportunities to develop their cultural capital. Cultural capital gives our pupils the vital background knowledge required to be informed and thoughtful members of our community who understand and believe in British values. This has a direct impact on ensuring that our children are prepared for adulthood. It gives them an understanding of how different beliefs reflect and shape our history and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
At Walworth School, we believe that it is important that all our pupils learn about and from religious and non-religious beliefs so that they are able to develop an understanding of the world around them. Through Religious Education they learn about world faiths and non-religious beliefs and the impact of these on the values and traditions of other individuals, communities, societies and cultures. Pupils are encouraged to ask thought-provoking questions about the meaning and purpose of life, beliefs, matters of right and wrong and what living in the modern world is all about. At the same time reflecting on their own ideas, beliefs and understanding, and considering their own spiritual, moral, cultural and mental development whilst encouraging a healthy respect for others irrespective of their faith or beliefs.
RE Implementation
Using the Durham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (2020), teachers plan their curriculum to include the following:
- An outline of the knowledge including the appropriate vocabulary that all children will need to learn taking into account their academic ability.
- A series of lessons for each topic area which includes steps for progression and depth of understanding.
- Trips to and visits from different faith establishments and members to enhance the learning experience.
- A form of assessment appropriate to the individual child/ren to embed learning and support progression.
RE Impact
Through the series of carefully planned high quality lessons, progress will be clearly seen in the form of assessment at the end of each topic. Because learning is a change to long-term memory, it is impossible to see impact in the short term. We do, however, track progress over time to evaluate the impact of our practice. This means that we look at the practices taking place to determine whether they are appropriate, related to our goals and likely to produce results in the long run.
We use lesson observations to see if the pedagogical style (from direct instruction to discovery learning) matches our depth expectations.
Formative assessment is used to help teachers plan progression and meet the individual needs of children. This may take the following forms:
- A reflection on the standards achieved against the benchmark expectations.
- Tolerance and understanding towards other pupils and their beliefs.
- Ability of pupils to reflect on their learning and relate it to their own experiences.
Teachers also use an assessment tracking tool (iASEND) to help evaluate the effectiveness of the RE curriculum. This relates to the Durham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (2020). This in conjunction with work samples and lesson observations will enable the subject lead to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our curriculum.
