R.E.

Harris Mayflower Religious Education Statement

Intent: Introduction, Vision and Philosophy
At Harris Mayflower we believe Religious Education provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. It develops pupils' knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, other religious traditions and other world views that offer answers to questions such as these.

 It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development. It enhances pupils' awareness and understanding of religions and beliefs, teachings, practices and forms of expression, as well as of the influence of religion on individuals, families, communities and cultures.

Religious Education has an important role in preparing pupils for adult life, employment and lifelong learning. It enables pupils to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own. It promotes discernment and enables pupils to combat prejudice.

We are fortunate as a Mayflower community to have families from each of the religions that are studied and therefore there are many opportunities to invite parents in to work alongside the R.E. Leader and class teachers when talking to the pupils about celebrations and events within the religious calendar.  There are also opportunities planned for pupils to visit local places of worship as part of their study.

Implementation: What does RE look like at HPAMA? Overview:

Religious Education is an important part of the school curriculum and is taught relevant to the child’s stage of development and experience. We seek to provide a clearer idea of what religion is about, the importance that it plays in many people’s lives and how that faith is expressed in their daily lives and routines. At Harris Primary Academy Mayflower we use the local agreed syllabus for Religious Education as a content guide.

Religious Education is taught throughout Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 once a week for 1 hour.  At Key Stage 1 this will usually consist of a Photo Evidence lesson to enable the children to learn a new concept and investigate some of the beliefs and practices associated with this concept. Then a follow up lesson will be a written task where they can apply the knowledge that they have learnt in the previous lesson. At Key Stage 2 students will usually have a Photo Evidence lesson and 2 written lessons. Each lesson in RE will be differentiated and will have a deeper thinking question which will really challenge the students and give them the opportunity to show their knowledge.

At Mayflower R.E. is planned and delivered at a very high standard and we set very high expectations for the students in the lesson. We expect the work in their books to be at the same standard as their English books. R.E. gives students the opportunity to share personal experiences and beliefs and it is important that they feel as though these ideas are respected. In R.E. we need to remember that a student who belongs to a particular faith can excel during that lesson and might be able to complete the HA work and Deeper Thinking question and we should allow them to do this as a celebration of their understanding of their faith.

Impact:

The RE Curriculum will enable our pupils to make effective decisions, make links across areas of learning, and be respectful of the views of others, as well as developing their understanding of some of the key religions and world views. Children's understanding will be assessed regularly, and VF will be given in the lesson. Deeper Thinking tasks and purple pen questions will allow the teacher to assess the students understanding. Book checks will be carried out regularly to check that the impact of the teaching is shown in the responses that they students give. 

We would expect to see that children have a good knowledge of a range of religions and they can speak confidently about the belief and practices of the main religions. The understanding of other people’s beliefs and practices should enable them to become more accepting of the differences that are found between religions.
 

Layout of lessons.

When teaching a practical photo lesson, differentiated photo sheet 3 ways will be provided to challenge the children.

When children are doing a written task, this will be differentiated three ways with greater depth stickers provided to challenge the children.

In addition, we have a review at the beginning of every lesson to review the progress they are making. This also allows us to understand how to support our pupils appropriately.  

Teachers recognise the difference between performance and learning and understand that pupil performance in the lesson today does not necessarily translate into the type of learning that will be evident tomorrow.  As a result, the use of low stakes tests (in the form of spaced retrieval practice) enable staff to regularly assess what learning has been retained by pupils over longer periods of time. This also provides pupils with the regular opportunity of retrieving information from memory, which consequently facilitates learning.

This includes:

• assessment for learning
• pupil voice
• challenge tasks
• quizzing, multiple choice and end of unit questions (see below)
• standards of learning in books

Ellen Quigley and Natalie Smith Dowrich-

R.E Leaders