As our pupils move through St John’s, we aim to equip our children with a systematic knowledge and understanding of Christianity, the other principal religious, World Views and beliefs represented in our local, national and global community.
By engaging pupils in an enquiry approach, we aim to encourage children to ask questions and know how to find the answers to their questions.
We aim for our children to be able to participate positively in a diverse society and become responsible citizens showing both the St John’s Values and British Values and for our pupils to develop an open-mindedness towards others and a sense of identify and belonging through self-awareness and reflection. Children will be taught that it is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of their religion or belief.
Legal requirements for Religious Education:
Religious Education is a statutory subject of the curriculum for all pupils in each year group and ‘should be provided for all registered pupils except those withdrawn at the request of their parents.’ (s 71 SSFA 1998). Parents have the right to request that their son or daughter be excused from all or part of the RE provided at school.
The syllabus should ‘reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian, while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.’ (s375 (3) Education Act 1996).
Religious Education is generally taught on a weekly basis, but is sometimes delivered through a class topic or as a whole-school RE day.
Lessons are planned and delivered in a variety of ways ensuring that all children can access and participate in lessons. Interactive, practical activities encourage the children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions. For some children learning will be scaffolded to support their needs and challenge is provided through greater depth questioning and activities.
Each lesson begins with a retrieval activity to allow the taught knowledge to become part of their long-term memory so that it is something that is remembered and learned in primary school and beyond. At the end of each topic, an assessment is completed which allows teachers to assess the knowledge that the children have gained through the unit of lessons.
The majority of RE lessons have been taken from the Discovery RE Scheme of Work but are supplemented further with other planning to reflect our local area.
Discovery RE advocates an enquiry model with a 4-step approach as the basis for implementation. Every unit (enquiry) is based around a key question. The key question for the enquiry is such that it demands an answer that weighs up ‘evidence’ (subject knowledge) and reaches a conclusion based on this. This necessitates children using their subject knowledge and applying it to the enquiry question, rather than this knowledge being an end in itself.
Discovery RE focuses on critical thinking skills, on personal reflection into the child’s own thoughts and feelings, on growing subject knowledge and nurturing spiritual development.
The RE curriculum is enriched by visitors and visits to a range of places of worship during their time as St John’s which includes Lincoln Cathedral, the Lincoln Central Mosque and the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Leicester which supports their growing subject knowledge.
The quality of teaching and learning within our school is monitored by the headteacher, SLT and subject leaders through observation of teaching and learning, book scrutiny, pupil voice and assessment of children’s learning.
At the end of each topic, teachers complete an assessment which allows them to see the knowledge that the children have gained over the unit of lessons. Quizzes and flashbacks at the beginning of lessons support teachers in assessing retention of knowledge across time.
We seek to ensure that all pupils in our school are educated to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally to enable them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world. This is supported by regular assemblies where knowledge and views are shared
Regular assemblies and celebrations of religious and non-religious festivals and events, implemented alongside weekly R.E. lessons, help to celebrate the diversity of the wider community, including their beliefs, traditions, culture, language and history.