RE

At Gorseybrigg Primary School we strive to promote the spiritual, moral and cultural development of our pupils and to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

The principal aim of Religious Education in our school is to enable pupils to participate in an on-going search for wisdom, through exploring questions raised by human experience and answers offered by the religions and beliefs of the people of Derbyshire and the wider community, so as to promote their personal development.

“Because of the great differences in our ways of thinking, it is inevitable that we have different religions and faiths. Each has its own beauty. And it is much better that we live together on the basis of mutual respect and mutual admiration.” Dalai Lama

Intent

At Gorseybrigg Primary School, we want all our pupils to be inspired and engaged by high quality Religious Education.

We ensure that every pupil’s statutory entitlement to RE is met, irrespective of their faith or belief and, within this, we encourage pupils to explore questions of spirituality, identity, ethics, discrimination and prejudice.
We are committed to promoting depth of knowledge which is supported by the direct teaching of challenging, domain-specific vocabulary to enable children to consider and articulate their developing understanding and opinions.
We encourage all pupils to experience RE as an exciting subject that feeds into an understanding of what it means to live in Derbyshire and our wider world communities and to promote harmony and good community relations.
We strive to cultivate a real enjoyment of RE and to support all children to achieve their full potential.

Implementation

Throughout the academic year, a variety of visits are undertaken and visitors are invited into school as an enhancement to the wider curriculum, for example:

Participating in a workshop led by The Sheffield Buddhist Centre in the Foundation Stage.
Visiting Dronfield Parish Church in Year 2.
Participating in a meditation workshop in Year 5.
Visiting the Madina Mosque in Year 6.
Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 visiting the Open Centre in Derby.

Our RE teaching is based on the ‘Derbyshire and Derby City Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2020 – 2025’. We use the ‘RE Today’ schemes of work as a basis for planning our lessons.

Each year group focuses on three key questions over the year – one question from each of the three strands – Believing, Expressing and Living.

Leadership

We have two RE subject leaders in order to ensure coverage, continuity and progression throughout the whole school. They have a range of joint responsibilities:

To monitor and evaluate RE teaching and learning
To manage the RE budget effectively
To maintain the RE element of the School Improvement Plan
To liaise and consult with outside agencies, local clusters and community groups
To support and advise teachers in the planning and delivery of RE lessons
To maintain and monitor RE resources in school
To attend and disseminate training
To ensure membership of the RE teaching professional body is up to date and used in school

Impact

Learning

We want all children at our school to make excellent progress, achieve success and find enjoyment in RE. We ensure that we choose activities and resources that promote active participation by everyone whatever their race, gender, economic status or ability. We strive to meet the needs of those pupils with special educational needs, disabilities, particular gifts and talents and children for whom English is an additional language so that everyone is able to fulfil their potential.

Our RE curriculum is filtered through our ‘big idea concepts’ so it has relevance for children’s understanding of our local, national and worldwide community. The study of religious and non-religious world views is a core component of a rounded academic education. This has long been recognised as essential in Britain. Young people today are growing up in a world where there is increasing awareness of the diversity of religious and non-religious world views and they will need to live and work well with people with very different outlooks from their own. RE, taught well, provides a safe space to discuss, experience and respond well to difference – a space where students can engage with controversial issues and learn to disagree respectfully with each other. This can play a key role in fostering good relationships between different groups within the school and in later adult life.

To achieve our high expectations and fulfil our commitment to excellence, we appreciate how crucial it is to engage with students in order to evaluate the impact of our provision. We regularly conduct pupil voice interviews and act on the outcomes. Using our in-year assessment model, we consider and record the attainment of individuals.

Teaching

To inform excellence in RE teaching, we intend that teaching staff will develop a deep knowledge of the curriculum. To enable this, all teachers have access to our NATRE (National Association of Teachers of Religious Education) membership and participate in training sessions arranged in-house by our RE specialists. Assessment against the curriculum enables us to consider attainment and progress and adjust teaching accordingly, communicating achievement in RE to children’s new teachers. Regular monitoring including lesson observations, book-looks where appropriate and the checking of planning takes place in a supportive atmosphere where the emphasis is on improvement and the sharing of ideas.

Our Community

The curriculum is designed to value all religious and non-religious world views and children are taught to recognise and appreciate the differences and similarities between these views to promote harmony and good community relations. Our curriculum is enriched by inviting visitors, including family members, into school to share their world views with pupils.

Foundation Stage

Our Foundation Stage children receive 36 hours of R.E. teaching per year.

They explore Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam. Visitors representing a variety of religions are invited to speak to the children e.g. visit from the Sheffield Buddhist Centre.

Key Stage 1

Our Key Stage 1 children receive 36 hours of R.E. tuition per year.

They find out about Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. They also welcome a variety of visitors and enjoy a visit to Dronfield Parish Church.

Key Stage 2

Our Key Stage 2 children receive 45 hours of R.E. tuition per year.

They learn about Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Sikhism. They enjoy taking part in a Buddhist Meditation Workshop and visiting the Derby Open Centre.

We also include religious festivals, stories and events as part of our assembly calendar. This includes a Values Assembly on a Monday, a Themed Assembly on a Thursday, Celebration Assembly on a Friday and class reflection times throughout the week