R.E

         How do we teach Religious Education at Albrighton Primary School?

 

Intent

At Albrighton Primary School and Nursery, we believe that a broad, rich and creative curriculum is essential in the education of all pupils. We understand that a high quality religious education should deepen pupils’ understanding through key questions and our motto, ‘Only our best will Do!’ is reflected in all of the work we produce.

Our RE curriculum will equip pupils with knowledge about key religions, the diversity of our society as well as developing the skills needed to respond to the religious questions facing our world today. We believe that knowledge and skills intertwine with the fundamental principles of operating in a diverse and multi-cultural society, being able to debate and allow self-reflection. Our RE curriculum will enable our pupils to listen to and respect the viewpoints of others whilst becoming confident to question what they see and hear.

Our pupils will be able to identify where they belong in our world and how they feel about their own religion or beliefs. Our incredible outdoor environment will enable pupils to experience a sense of awe and wonder, consider the nature of the world we live in, and explore the possible meanings of ‘spiritual’.

 

Implementation

We use the Shropshire Agreed Syllabus as a starting point and then plan our school overview from this. Teachers use the school overview to plan their lessons. Lessons are based around a theme or a specific religion. Where a theme based approach is used, main world religions will be referenced throughout. We use knowledge organisers to focus our acquisition of knowledge and we follow a sequence of lessons to maximise children’s knowledge acquisition over time.

 

Impact

Children will have developed the knowledge and skills to help them understand the main aspects of key religions and the similarities and differences between them.

Children’s knowledge and skills will develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the Shropshire Agreed Syllabus but to prepare them to become competent learners in their secondary education and beyond.

We measure the impact of our Religious Education curriculum through the following methods: 

  • Assessing children’s understanding of the knowledge and linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught. This may be linked to a special religion e.g. Judaism or a key theme such as Worship.
  • Formative assessment throughout lessons - questioning and AFL tasks to check knowledge and understanding.
  • Opportunities to use knowledge in other contexts such as in literacy or PSHE.
  • Interviewing pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
  • Moderation staff meetings where pupils’ work in floor books is scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
  • Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.

Adaptive Teaching in RE

Adaptive teaching means that teachers adapt their teaching to make it appropriate for all students in their classroom so each and every child can access the learning and be successful in their learning. For RE this means that all children will receive Quality First Religious Education teaching in the classroom and the lesson and resources will be adapted to suit the needs of  all pupils. This might take the form of breaking the lesson up into smaller chunks, rephrasing questioning, using resources such as word banks, pre teaching or reading about a religion or theme  and/or targeted support from the teacher and teaching assistant. Further methods of adaptive teaching in RE include: the use of hands on artefacts, which some pupils may need to use more frequently; using stories/ comparative studies to make real life links; pupils who have first hand experience of a specific religion or culture sharing their experiences. 

Check out the fun messy church videos below

Our RE Coverage 2021/2022 and 2022/2023

The following document shows how the guidance in the Shropshire Agreed Syllabus is covered in our school for the academic years 2021/22 and 2022/23. It ensures that pupils access the Key Questions and learn about a range of religions. 

Churches in Albrighton

The churches of Albrighton have their own YouTube channel and regularly upload assemblies. 

UnitedBeneficeABD - YouTube 

Religions of the World

Check out BBC Bitesize for some interactive ideas. 

 

Our shared RE display

We have artefact boxes in school with a range of items and artefacts to aid our teaching of key religions. These are on display for all children to view, interact with and discuss. 

Year 1 and 2

Year 1 and 2 have been learning about places of worship, routines and rituals. They have been discussing the difference between a routine and a ritual and how we can reflect on this is our every day lives. 

The children looked at the use of rangoli patterns, a tradition to welcome guests at Hindu special events. 

They also looked at the special place of Hindu worship called a Mandir (temple). 

RQ1 and RQ5 (Shropshire Agreed Syllabus)

Year 4 and 5

Year 4 and 5 have been learning all about worship and what it means to have 'worth'. We looked at what worship is like across different religions including, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity. 

We looked at the significance of music and prayer within worship. 

Here are examples of us reflecting on The Lord's Prayer and thinking about what would be special to us in our own prayer. 

RQ10 (Shropshire Agreed Syllabus)

Year 3

Year 3 have also been learning about Hinduism but with a different focus. They have been looking at all aspects of Hindusim, and have been learning about 3 special Hindu festivals: Diwali, Holi and Navaratri. 

Can you find out what each of these festivals celebrates? 

RQ2 (Shropshire Agreed Syllabus)

 

Year 6

Year 6 have been learning all about Creation Stories. 

They discussed the theory behind creation stories and talked about people's beliefs. Pupils were given time to reflect on their own thoughts. 

To the left, is an example piece of work which focuses on Sikh Creation. 

RQ11 (Shropshire Agreed Syllabus)