Benchill Primary Religious Education Curriculum

Rationale

At Benchill Primary School we provide pupils with an engaging, challenging, inspiring and coherent Religious Education curriculum, which aims to develop our children’s appreciation and acceptance of diversity within their community and the wider world.

The curriculum is taken from the Manchester SACRE Agreed Syllabus 2022-2027, whose principle aim is to “engage pupils in a systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldwide views address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.”

Intent

At Benchill Primary, our Religious Education curriculum aims to:

• Develop pupils understanding of the world faiths and world views.

• Give pupils an awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures.

• Equip pupils with the skills to think critically, ask and answer questions and to reflect on their own beliefs and values.

We want our pupils to:

• Develop respect for others, including people of different faiths and beliefs and to challenge prejudice.

• Reflect on their beliefs, ideas and ways of living

• Build their own sense of identity and belonging within our school and the wider community.

Implementation

At Benchill Primary the Religious Education curriculum is planned and structured to ensure that learning is sequential and allows children to make links and build on prior learning and achieve depth in their learning. The teaching of RE is a legal requirement, and the Manchester SACRE Agreed Syllabus states how many hours of RE needs to be taught each year. Through our RE curriculum, we teach the main religions of our area which are Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. We also teach about humanist beliefs.

In our school RE is delivered in the following ways:

• Nursery – by celebrating different religious festivals throughout the year.

• Reception – 30-40 minutes a week, plus celebrating religious festivals.

• KS1 – 36 hours a year, plus celebrating religious festivals.

• KS2 – 45 hours a year, plus celebrating religious festivals.

By the end of year 6, children will have studied a wide range of religions and worldviews through three strands:

• Believing – Religious beliefs, teachings, sources; questions about meaning, purpose and truth.

• Expressing – Religious and spiritual forms of expression; questions about identity and diversity.

• Living – Religious practices and ways of living; questions about values and commitments.

During the teaching of RE in our school, we try and include opportunities that will enrich our children’s learning, for example: visitors from faith communities, outings to places of worship, examination of artefacts, listening to music, watching videos, reading stories, role playing and spending time in special places for reflection.

Impact

The Benchill Religious Education curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils will:

• Know and understand about a range of religions and worldviews.

• Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religious and non-religious worldviews.

• Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage with religious and non-religious worldviews.

This will enable pupils to:

• Investigate key concepts and questions.

• Investigate and understand what enables different individuals and communities to live together respectfully for the wellbeing of all.

• Understanding and be able to describe, explain and analyse beliefs and practices.

• Explain their ideas about how beliefs, practices and forms of expression influence individuals and communities.

• Express their personal reflections and responses to questions and teachings about identity, diversity, meaning and value.

The study of RE encourages ambition within our children, by empowering them with the knowledge of the wider world, their place in it and how their actions can make a difference. Children are also introduced to different perspectives whilst also promoting the values of compassion, tolerance and respect for others.