Religious Education

At Fairfield Park Lower School, we value Religious Education. WE ARE THEOLOGISTS!

Religious education contributes dynamically to children and young people’s education in schools by provoking challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, and issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.

In RE children learn about and from religions and worldviews in local, national and global contexts, to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions.

Teaching should equip children with systematic knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews, enabling them to develop their ideas, values and identities. It should develop in children an aptitude for dialogue so that they can participate positively in our society with its diverse religions and worldviews. Children should gain and deploy the skills needed to understand, interpret and evaluate texts, sources of wisdom and authority and other evidence. They learn to articulate clearly and coherently their personal beliefs, ideas, values and experiences while respecting the right of others to differ.

For our Progression of Skills in RE, please click the following link:

RE Progression of Knowledge and Skills Yr Rec - Yr 4

 Intent

‘Roots down, walls down’. At Fairfield Park Lower School we call R.E. ‘All About Life’.
Through this subject we seek for children to firstly put their ‘roots down’ by learning about their own beliefs in order that they can bring their ‘walls down’ to not just be tolerant of other faiths and beliefs but to show understanding and respect of these.

Building out from the Foundation Stage children expand their circle of understanding, firstly thinking about themselves and their family to understanding what their friends believe and beyond to their community, their country and the world.

Our three drivers are focused around creating tolerant and respectful members of society and are linked to R.E.
• Environment
We are encouraging the children to think about the beliefs of others and how their actions affect others.
• The Arts
We give children the opportunity to express their learning and beliefs through different mediums. We learn about how beliefs have been explored through the arts.
• Diversity
We want the children to be accepting members of society who celebrate the diversity of our multicultural country. We are ensuring that children are respectful and kind members of society.
We believe that children should be provided with an education that develops their character. By the end of their time at Fairfield Park Lower School, children should:
• Have consideration and respect for each other, their school and the community that they live in, showing respect and understanding.
• Be questioning and thoughtful, thinking about meaning and purpose in life, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.
• Be able to weigh up the value of wisdom from different sources and respectfully learn to agree or disagree based on their own knowledge and opinions.
• Celebrate each person’s diversity and uniqueness.
• Have gained a good knowledge of different religions and beliefs that they can link and compare to their own beliefs.

Implementation

Lessons are creative and reflective allowing children to learn about religion and belief by linking this through values and their own understanding.
Children are encouraged to show their learning through a personal choice of how they want to express this rooted in an Early Years philosophy.
Planning is tailored to reflect the interests of the class and linked to learning objectives from the Locally Agreed Syllabus. This teaching and learning approach has three core elements which we seek to weave together to provide breadth and balance. These are;

â¦Â knowledge - making sense of beliefs,
â¦Â understanding – examining how and why people put their beliefs into action,
â¦Â making connections – evaluating and reflecting to challenge their own thinking and connect ideas with their own lives.

The school ensures that lesson time and planning meets the statutory and legal requirements for all state-funded school to teach R.E. In addition to timetabled weekly lessons there are numerous project days and weeks which have included Spirited Arts week and days focussing on the Chinese New Year and Diwali celebrations.
We are passionate about ensuring that our lessons are inclusive and reduce any barriers to participation. We want to ensure that all children, regardless of their race, gender or background, can access the curriculum and are represented to feel as though they belong and are valued.
Collective worship/assembly time is distinct from curriculum time but links are made in this time with the teaching of R.E. Collective worship links to the values led teaching through stories from different religions, songs and reflections.

Impact

Following the implementation of the broad and age-appropriate curriculum, children will be respectful, tolerant, thoughtful and understanding members of society within our community and the wider world.
Children will have a better understanding of their own beliefs to help them find their place within the world. They will think about how their actions can affect others and celebrate the diversity in our community and the world.
Children will think deeply about about wisdom from different sources, understanding how this fits with their own belief system and know how to respectfully agree or disagree.
They will have a good understanding of different religions including where, how and why they worship. This will enable them to be considerate and understanding members of society.

Learning Snapshot