Religious Education
Aims:
At Harry Gosling, we believe that all children need to acquire core knowledge and understanding of the beliefs and practices of the religions and worldviews, which not only shape their history and culture. but which guide their own development. Our teaching provokes challenging questions about: meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. We consider religions and worldviews in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. They learn to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources, to develop and express their insights in response, and to agree or disagree respectfully. By doing so, we challenge stereotypes and promote an ethos of respect that champions democratic values and human rights.
How RE is taught:
We use the SACRE locally agreed syllabus as the basis for planning Religious Education, which caters for pupils from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. During weekly lessons, we aim to support and develop children’s spiritual development through learning about and celebrating different faiths. Pupils are also given a chance to reflect on what they have learnt and how other religious beliefs may be similar or different to their own. We teach RE systematically, so children learn about each of the chosen religions – Christianity, Hinduism, Humanism, Islam, and Judaism– at multiple points in their primary career. The first time we establish their initial knowledge, then build on what they’ve learnt when we revisit it later. Promoting high-quality discussion is central to our pedagogy; teachers use sentence stems, discussion guidelines, thoughtful questioning and games to promote peer discussion. We use artefacts to support children’s learning. In addition, we arrange visits to different places of worship and and external visitors to foster deeper learning opportunities and develop children’s cultural capital. Teaching is inclusive to the needs of all pupils, by encouraging them to think critically and deeply and using a range of resources, questioning and support.
Knowledge and Skills Progressions:
Please click on the links below to see the specific skills and knowledge that are covered in each year group.