Intent Statement:

Religious Education can provide a rich and wide range of experiences inside and outside the classroom, which give children opportunities to develop concepts and skills that will help them to make sense of their own experiences and beliefs, and to understand the beliefs and practices of members of faith communities through open, fair minded enquiry. At Chalk Ridge Primary School, our RE Curriculum develops successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve; confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives and responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society. It is embedded with the values of our school and within the British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Religious education is an educational subject in its own right, taught within an educational framework. It is important that students progressively develop the capacities to interpret, evaluate and respond to differing values and beliefs. The can be achieved through extending their thinking and analytical skills and their creative, imaginative and emotional development. A further purpose for RE is to foster mutual understanding between children of differing religious and cultural backgrounds. The process of teaching and learning at each key stage is addressed in the programme of study. The content of the syllabus at each key stage is addressed in the breadth of study.

Implementation Statement:

In the foundation stage, children are taught RE across the EYFS Statutory Framework and Early Learning Goals. Through a broad range of teacher-led, child initiated and continuous learning opportunities.

In KS1 and KS2, children will continue to build on their RE knowledge with more formal blocked or weekly RE lessons.

In the RE Curriculum at Chalk Ridge Primary School, Christian traditions are studied proportionately more than any other single religious tradition, as required by The Living Difference syllabus. The children will also learn about a comparative religion in depth and experience an overview of other religions:

• Foundation and KS1 – Judaism/Hinduism
• KS2 – Islamic/Hinduism/Muslim/Buddhist

Across the school, we have four 'golden thread' concepts/ words that ensure continuity within the cycle across the key stages. These themes are interwoven into the planning for every year group and ensure children continually build upon and deepen their understanding of these key ideas. They are:

• Community
• Belonging
• Special
• Love

Throughout the cycle, the children also continue to have the opportunity to inquire, we provide 5 five key steps:

· At the Communicate and Apply steps children explore their own, and others’ experience in relation to theirs and begin to look more at others’ responses in different situations, but those still familiar to them.

· At the Inquire and Contextualise steps children look at ideas that may be new to them recognising that there are many different ways of looking at things

· At the Evaluate step they discern value for others and themselves in a way dependent on the context of the enquiry.

The overview for KS1&KS2 are as follows:

Overview of learning KS1

Overview of learning KS2

Arrangements for Withdrawal

As stated in the 1998 Act, the legal status of RE gives every parent the right to withdrawal their child from any religious teaching that occurs in school. Should this be the case, please provide a written letter/email to the head teacher with reasons as to why you would like your child withdrawn. Please also refer to the RE Policy for more information. 

Impact Statement:
Through our planned programme of work we intend that RE will:

• Develop respect for different beliefs and practices
• Encourage critical analysis of religious beliefs and practices
• Support the development of thinking skills
• Enable pupils to make a positive contribution to diverse and rapidly changing world
• Contribute to the (SMSC) Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development of our pupils
• Help pupils reflect upon their own needs, experiences and to confront what are sometimes referred to as ‘big questions’
• Encourage pupils to develop open minds to new and different concepts and to form their own opinions based on evidence and argument
• Maintain close links with local churches and links with other religious communities