Religious Education at Hardwick

Religious Education is about developing knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews. It allows pupils to discuss, experience and respond to difference.

It gives children the knowledge, skills and understanding of the diverse religious and non-religious world views allowing them to appreciate and live together positively with people who have very different outlooks from their own.

Without it they would not be able to understand how their own faith or beliefs relate to the wider world in terms of attitudes and the law. It is essential they learn to respect others and their views, have empathy and articulate their own ideas and experiences.

It feeds into our school’s curriculum intent by promoting the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils. Providing children with first-hand experiences within a vocabulary rich curriculum that provides many opportunities for them to talk and discuss both local and world events/circumstances. It is taught in a way that gives children the chance to be critical and question what they see around them through a clear progression of learning that is inclusive for all children within the school and community.

RE is taught across the whole school from the very youngest children in our Nursery to those in Year 6. Our curriculum ensures that children progressively learn new knowledge and skills so that they can understand how their own faith or beliefs relate to the wider world and learn to make informed decisions. RE is taught discreetly and through cross curricular themes.

Our curriculum ensures that our children:

  • Know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews;
  • Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews;
  • Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews;
  • Are competent in RE skills needed to:

o   Investigate

o   Reflect

o   Express

o   Empathise

o   Represent views other than one’s own with recognising bias and stereotypes

o   Analyse a range of primary and secondary sources

o   Understand symbolic language

o   Interpret meaning and significance

In addition, outside speakers and visitors and staff deliver assemblies for pupils. Each year group visits a place of worship reflecting the religion they are learning about so that they gain first-hand experience of the diversity in the local community.

As children progress through school they learn about different religions and beliefs. Pupils are exposed to thought provoking challenging questions about meaning and the purpose in life, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. In KS1 the main religions of study are Islam and Christianity. In KS2 the main religions studied are Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Islam and non- religious beliefs.

Please see below our curriculum progression grid for Religious Education, detailing how our children progress through knowledge and skills from Nursery to Year 6:

 
Religious Education Displays
 
Useful Websites

My Life, My Religion - BBC Two - videos about the lives of children from different religious backgrounds

https://www.bbc.co.uk › programmes

https://bibleforchildren.org › languages › English › stories - simple Bible stories for KS1 and KS2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround - a daily news programme created with children in mind that tells them about important events and other interesting stories.