Dersingham Primary School

Religious Education is a core subject. It is the intent of Dersingham Primary school that Religious Education promotes an enquiry-based approach through the implementation of the Newham RE syllabus outlining the curriculum, which covers the Agreed Syllabus for RE from Key Stage One and Two and can be used to contribute to the learning experiences of the early learning goals within the Foundation Stage.

Experiences and enrichment opportunities at Dersingham Primary School:

• handling artefacts
• exploring sacred texts
• using imaginative play or drama to express feelings and ideas
• responding to images, games, stories, art, music and dance
• meeting visitors from local religious communities
• making visits to religious places of worship where possible, and where not, making use of videos and the internet
• taking part in whole school events- (multi-faith days, Harvest Festival, school performances)
• participating in moments of quiet reflection
• participating in 'Good Work'  assemblies
• using ICT to further explore religion and belief globally
• comparing religions and worldviews through discussion
• debating and communicating religious belief, worldviews and philosophical ideas and answering and asking ultimate questions posed by these

Key Stage Two

• During this key stage, pupils are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding through deeper enquiry into known religions and in Year 6, encounter secular world views. Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 consider the impact of beliefs and practices in greater detail and respond to more philosophical questions.

Learning about religion and belief

Pupils should be taught to:

• Explore and comment on the key aspects of religions, believer’s lives, their stories and traditions and their influence
• Explore how practices are related to beliefs and teachings
• Interpret information about religion and religious beliefs through a range of sources
• Recognise similarities and differences within and between religions
• Consider how religious and spiritual ideas are expressed
• Describe and begin to encounter religious and other responses to ultimate questions and ethical or moral issues
• Use a developed religious vocabulary when discussing and expressing their knowledge and understanding
• Learning from religion and belief
• Pupils should be taught to:
• Reflect on what it means to belong to a faith community and how this relates to them and others’ lives
• Recognise how religious practice is conducted in a variety of ways
• Discuss their own and other’s views of religious truth and belief
• Reflect on morality and how people respond to decisions they are faced with
• Reflect on sources of information and what they find value in in their own and other’s lives

At Dersingham  Primary we envision RE curriculum impacting the pupils in the following ways:

• extend their knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs
• develop a religious vocabulary and interpret religious symbolism in a variety of forms
• reflect on questions of meaning, offering their own thoughtful and informed insights into religious and secular world-views
• explore ultimate questions of beliefs and values in relation to a range of contemporary issues in an ever-changing society

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, understand and apply skills related to the two attainment targets and learning themes embedded with the Newham Curriculum. Assessment criteria has been developed in line with the expectations laid out in the Agreed Newham Syllabus, to enable teachers to assess the progress of the children as they move through the key stages.

Termly summative assessments are used to determine the children’s’ understanding and inform teacher’s planning and further differentiated support for pupils(6 in total).

 The impact our RE curriculum is also sought directly from the pupils as surveys and questionnaires are used to gather pupils’ voice on this subject and together with summative assessment, action can be taken to further develop the RE curriculum.