Religious Education

Curricular aims

The aims of our RE curriculum are  :

• to stimulate and develop children’s curiosity and knowledge of religion so that they can hold informed conversations about religious ideas such beliefs, practices, faith, worship, prayer, creation, God, the meaning of life and the relevance of religion on society and peoples’ lives.

• build children's knowledge of religious ideas through inquiry, debate, asking questions, making connections, exploring artefacts, discussing sources of beliefs and examining religious texts so that they can talk about the similarities between the major world faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.

• develop an in-depth knowledge of Christianity through the themes of God and creation, the fall, the people of God, incarnation, Gospel, salvation and the Kingdom of God and make links with other faiths.
  
  

• explore their own religious, spiritual and philosophical ways of living, believing and thinking. 

Disciplinary strands

Religious education at this school is studied through three key disciplinary strands of theology, philosophy and the human and social sciences. It is through these lenses religious knowledge and wisdom is gained and provides a framework for our children to become religiously literate.

This is achieved through a curriculum and teaching approach based around increasingly complex enquiry questions as children progress through the school. These enquiry questions primarily have a theological or human social science angle through which philosophical questions are raised through the natural course of study and exploration of learning materials provided by the teacher.

Critical thinking skills are encouraged by prompting children to analyse and interpret religious texts, doctrines, and beliefs critically in a non judgemental way to educate about faith. It is not about teaching children to adopt a particular faith although it may lead to children becoming curious about a particular faith or world view. This fosters intellectual curiosity and the ability to evaluate information critically.

Theological lens

Examining religious ideas though the theological lens requires pupils to think like theologians and ask why people believe what they do. This involves examining the source of these beliefs such as scripture and how they are interpreted and have changed overtime.

For example, children study why the creation story is so important to the Christian faith. They interpret scripture and consider if Jesus was referring to an earthly kingdom, heavenly kingdom and consider how Christian beliefs about salvation reflected in Leonardo de Vinci’s alfresco Last Supper located in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

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

Human and social science lens

Looking through the human and social science lens focuses on the influence of religion and how people live their lives and express their faith and world views.

Pupils investigate the ways in which religions and worldviews have shaped and continue to shape societies around the world. 

For example, children learn how signs and symbols used by Christians to aid their understanding of the mystery of God and why fellowship and courageous advocacy is rooted in the Bible. They also examine similarities across faiths and examine if people from different religions worship and pray in the same way for example.

This strand explores the diverse ways in which people practise their beliefs and considers the major world faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.

Philosophical lens

Looking through a philosophical lens focuses on asking and exploring the big questions theology and human and social science pose. 

For example, in relation to 'the fall', does the existence of evil challenge the existence of God? When considering beliefs about God, is it reasonable to believe in an eternal being that has no beginning or does modern science challenge religious beliefs?

Philosophical questions raise questions around morality, the fundamental nature of knowledge, existence, creation and the universe and how we know what we know, or believe what we believe. It is the process of reasoning that lies at the heart of philosophy. 

It is less about coming up with answers to difficult questions and more about the process of how we try to answer them and using dialogue, logic, discussion and debate.  

Understanding Christianity

We have based our curriculum and inquiry questions on Understanding Christianity published by the Church of England's Education Office . This approach provides opportunities for theological, philosophical and human/social science inquiry as well as opportunities to make comparisons with other world faiths. 

The core areas of study include:   

• Creation

• The Fall

• People of God

• Incarnation

• Salvation

• Gospel

• Kingdom of God

Creation

The first book of the Bible describes the creation of the universe and God's purpose for humankind. Genesis is the first book of the Bible and describes the creation of Heaven and Earth, the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve and how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. 

Fundamental to Christian belief is the existence of one loving, forgiving and faithful God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. This is known as the Trinity.  

Children learn about both creation stories found in Genesis and the belief that God created humankind in his image as perfect beings, immortal and free of sin and pain. 

Children also examine creation stories in other world faiths and in the context modern scientific explanations.

The Fall

Children learn that according to the Bible, Adam and Eve disobeyed God's instruction and were tempted to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This is the point when humankind was believed to have broken the relationship with God. As a consequence, Adam and Eve grew old, felt suffering and were banished from the Garden of Eden. 

Children learn sin was passed down onto the next generation and God's perfect world had been spoiled and the world became increasingly corrupt. The ‘fall’ is  thought to be the root cause of many problems for humanity. Children explore this interpretation as well as studying how other religions grapple with existence of evil.

The People of God

The Old Testament tells the story of God’s plan to reverse the impact of the Fall, to save humanity. It involves God choosing specific people, such as Abraham Moses to attract other people back to God.

God also chooses a nation to carry out this mission and so the history of the Jewish/Hebrew people begins when God promised Abram, and later named Abraham, that he would be the father of a great people if he did as God told him.

The Bible narrative includes the message of the prophets who tried to persuade people to stick with God. The plan appears to end in failure with the people of God exiled, and then returning, awaiting a ‘messiah’ – a rescuer.

Children also explore the importance of significant people in the context of other world faith such as Abraham being attributed to the belief of a monotheistic God in both Judaism and Islam.

Incarnation

The concept of incarnation refers to the moment when God became human in the form of the man known called Jesus Christ. This is when God is believed to have come to live among humankind as prophesied in the Old Testament.

The New Testament presents Jesus as the answer: the Messiah and Saviour, who will repair the effects of sin and the Fall and offer a way for humans to be at one with God again.

Children learn incarnation is specific to Christianity and crucial to the understanding of the continued existence of Judaism.

Gospel

Gospel literally means 'Good news'. Christians believe Jesus' incarnation for all people is Good news'. Children learn the important stories and events from Jesus' life, his teaching and ministry and how Christianity and the message has spread across the world.

In their study of Jesus' life, the children study important events and the things Jesus said. They learn about the miracles and parables and his disciples. The events of Holy Week are studied in great depth and its connections with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter day. 

Salvation

The Old Testament plots the ups and downs of God's divine plan to restore the broken relationship with mankind after Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world. 

Ultimately God sent his own son. Children learn the importance of redemption and salvation in terms of God sending Jesus, God in human form, to pay the penalty for mankind's sin in return for salvation through his own death and resurrection.

The Kingdom of God

Children learn about the challenges in relation to references to God's Kingdom in the New Testament. They consider if this is a heavenly or earthly kingdom and whether it exists in human hearts through Jesus. The idea of the Kingdom of God reflects God's ideal for human life in the world. Christians look forward to a time when God's rule is fulfilled at some future point, in a restored, transformed heaven and earth.

The children study the parable of the mustard seed and other parables and examine Jesus' references to the kingdom.

The global dimension

Christianity is one of the world's major religions, based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. It emerged in the 1st century CE in the Middle East and has since spread globally

Christianity is diverse, with numerous denominations and its influence extends beyond spiritual life, impacting cultures, laws, education, and arts worldwide. 

We have carefully considered Global Christianity as part of our RE Curriculum by including the global and diverse dimensions of Christianity. These dimensions are explored through our enquiry questions such as why is a cross important to Christians around the world? How do Christians around the world worship and respond to the Good News? How do Christians from around the remember the events of Holy week starting with Palm Sunday.