Religious Education - Please scroll down to the bottom of the page for useful information and links to the curriculum.
Article 14 - I have the right to have my own thoughts and beliefs and to choose my religion, with my parents’ guidance.
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JOHN BRAMSTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
MISSION STATEMENT
At John Bramston Primary School, our vision is to develop children's skills of enquiry, reasoned argument and reflection.
In school, we follow the national guidance issued by the New Curriculum. The Redbridge National Curriculum Framework for RE (NCRFRE) was introduced in 2016 and teachers have been planning from it since September 2016. We are also supported by SACRE. This continues currently.
Religious education contributes hugely to children and young people’s education and understanding in school by stimulating challenging questions such as:
- Who is God?
- What does he look like?
- The meaning and purpose of life?
- What are your beliefs about God?
- Who and what defines what is right or wrong?
- What does it mean to be human?
Our aim is to educate all students to enable them to reach and expand their potential, and to prepare them to become productive, responsible, ethical, creative and compassionate members of society. We are continuously striving to consciously create an environment of respect and inclusion and to support ethnic, racial, religious and the socio-economic diversity at our school. We believe that education should take place in a fully inclusive environment with equal opportunities for all and that all children should learn to value religious and cultural differences. Our school strives to be at the centre of the local community with positive and effective links to the wider and global communities. Our school community is refined by a wide and profound diversity of cultures and beliefs. Engaging and stimulating religious education helps to nurture informed and resilient responses to misunderstandings, stereotyping and division. It offers a place of integrity and security within which difficult or ‘risky’ questions can be tackled within a safe but challenging environment.
R.E education should allow our pupils to discover, explore and consider different answers to above questions, in local, national and global contexts. Children learn to appraise the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response, and to agree or disagree respectfully. Teaching should equip pupils to develop their ideas, values and identities through engaging with a curriculum that broadens their knowledge and understanding of other religions as well as their own. This can be enhanced through the use of texts, videos, real life experiences and this allows them to articulate clearly and understand their personal beliefs, ideas and experiences - all whilst respecting the rights of others perspectives and opinions.
INTENT
At John Bramston Primary School, Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school. Religious Education offers the pupils an opportunity to develop their knowledge of the world faiths, enhance their understanding and create an awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures. We aim to understand the way that religious beliefs shape our lives and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance our spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Religious Education plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, particularly PSHE and the teaching of British Values, in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children. Our curriculum is designed to encourage creativity, imagination, enquiry, debate, discussion and independence. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We include and promote children’s rights as we are a Gold level Rights Respecting School. Our Religious Education curriculum is enhanced further with trips to places of worship in our local area.
IMPLEMENTATION
Learning is embedded through the development of knowledge and skills over time. We use the Havering and Redbridge Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education as the basis for our curriculum. At John Bramston Primary School, the following religions have been selected for study:
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Christianity
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Islam
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Judaism
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Hinduism
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Buddhism
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Sikhism
From the syllabus it is required that:-
In the Early Years Foundation Stage the learning outcomes are referenced to Christianity and as appropriate to a range of other beliefs and cultures.
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KS1 - Christianity is studied (and one other principal religion in some depth)
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KS2 – Christianity is studied (and two other principal religions in some depth) Our Religious Education Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school and our community. We are extremely lucky to have the Christian Education Project (CEP) and our local Churches who participate regularly in delivering Religious Educational activities. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. We promote children and staff in our teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children. Throughout each key stage, the learning deepens their understanding of different faiths. Progression is mapped on the school overview for each year group (as set out below)
IMPACT
The children at John Bramston Primary School enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose, or choose not to follow a religion. Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world, developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life. As such, R.E. is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcome.
- A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school.
- School festival days – celebrating learning.
- Monitoring by Subject leader to ensure coverage through planning, evidence in books and displays.
- Religious assemblies reflecting learning.
- Pupil discussions about their learning and pupil view questionnaires.
- Planning that delivers engaging, deep thinking questions and a variety of cross curricular links to other subjects such as PSHE. All lessons are linked to the Children’s rights to enable children to understand their rights and ensure they are being met.
- Community involvement - Visitors are invited to come and share their religions with the children. They are often parents of the children or people of the community. They discuss their practices, food, clothes and special festivals. Children get to experience religion first hand in a practical and visual context.
- Diversity - Children love sharing their religions to the rest of their class and it gives them the chance to shine. Religious festivals are not only taught but celebrated in school, helping children to become open-minded and accepting to the different ways families and communities in our local area live their lives. Our school celebrates similarities and differences and teaches that diversity is positive.
- Allowing children to be part of the planning process – children of the upper KS2 are invited as well as staff of differing religions to give their personal perspective of religious festivals and ceremonies to the lower key stages. This shows a universal appreciation of the multi-cultural community that we have at JB.