Religious Education

 Intent

Religious Education at Catsfield School is taught in accordance with the East Sussex Agreed Syllabus and Understanding Christianity. Religious Education (R.E) contributes to the development of the whole person by helping pupils consider important questions about the meaning and purpose of existence, the range and depth of human experiences, and what is ultimately worthwhile and valuable in life. We teach children how to be deep thinkers, aware of life’s big questions and how they can interact in a conscious and deliberate way with their community, embracing people from all backgrounds.  RE increases pupils’ awareness of the spiritual dimension of human life, which should be an aspect of every curriculum area.  Pupils learn that people respond to spiritual questions and experiences in many different ways, both religious and non-religious, and they are challenged by the different answers offered by believers and others. They develop a reflective capacity, empathetic understanding, and philosophical and evaluative thinking skills.  R.E. helps pupils to understand that a person’s background influences the way he or she thinks, feels, believes, acts and expresses him/herself.  R.E. affirms religious and cultural diversity in the context of East Sussex, Britain and the rest of the world.  Our aim for children is that they will be curious and engaged with the global context of their lives, developing a strong sense of moral purpose and to understand their place in a rapidly changing world

Our aims are for pupils to:

Nurture the Spirit

Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews.

Grow the Mind

Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews.

Love your Neighbour

Know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews.

Implementation

The programme of study at Catsfield CEP School is laid out in a framework linked to year groups. For the teaching of Christianity, ‘Understanding Christianity’ is used as a resource. For other religions, we use the locally agreed syllabus.

The programme has been planned to ensure continuity and progression, so that aspects that are to be taught in several year groups will build upon and extend previous learning.

We look at RE through three disciplines:

Theology: We look at where beliefs come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other.

• Philosophy: This aspect of RE is about thinking. It is about finding out how and whether things make sense. It deals with questions of morality and ethics and takes seriously the nature of reality, knowledge and existence.
• Human/Social Sciences: This is about living. It explores the diverse ways in which people practice their beliefs. It engages with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities and societies

In order to make these disciplines more ‘accessible’ we have created 3 characters to represent the lenses and allow children to step into their shoes.

What religions and worldviews do children learn about?

Across the year, each key phase will study and explore different religions through their enquiry questions linked to one of these disciplines.

Children focus on some religions as ‘in depth’ studies and others as ‘encounter’ studies. As a Church of England school, Christianity is an ‘in depth’ study in all year groups. Through the enquiry questions, there are opportunities for children to also compare and contrast different faiths and world views so they are able to explore the enquiry question fully, providing children with a broad and balanced understanding, so they can make knowledgeable responses during their learning journey.

 Catsfield Religious Education overview

 Example of children’s work UKS2