RE

At Lakey Lane Primary School we follow the Birmingham agreed syllabus.  Our curriculum follows 24 moral and cultural dispositions aimed at cultivating and inspiring our children’s knowledge and understanding of different faith and non-religious world views. For example, children consider what is it that makes people happy and how to avoid ‘being selfish’ and ‘self-centred’. These dispositions are explored using stimulating resources that encourage independent thought and reflection. The syllabus aims to encourage our children to contribute to school, our society and our world and thus also to help them acquire the requisite skills to do so.  Throughout school they will learn about and from the six major religions: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism, which we believe is important for them to develop appropriate respect for the diversity which surrounds them.  Religious Education is invaluable in an ever-changing world.  We believe that every child can achieve and that they are all entitled to the same knowledge and cultural capital whatever their background or starting point. 

For more details please see the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus website.

Intent

We aim to deliver our curriculum through 3 key drivers and our 6 school values which underpin our children’s learning.

Ambition - To appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and our behaviour. To develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Community - To develop their knowledge and understanding of the beliefs, values and traditions of major world faiths, particularly those represented in Birmingham. To prepare children for life in the diverse, multi-cultural society of modern Britain. To share experiences of a range of religions through educational visits to places of worship.

Respect - To equip our children with a mutual respect and understanding of the many different beliefs and cultures in Birmingham, the UK and the world and to be aware of their rights and responsibilities. To respectfully challenge and enquire about others’ religious beliefs and non-religious world views.

Self belief - To develop a sense of identity, belonging and their own beliefs through self-awareness and reflection.

Curiosity  - To ask questions about the world around them whilst reflecting on their own beliefs, values and experiences. To encourage children to critically evaluate and think deeper rather than taking things at face value. 

Kindness -To demonstrate a positive attitude towards people of any religion and show an understanding of different cultural beliefs. To become informed, reflective and compassionate people who contribute positively towards creating a caring school and community. To know religion is used to convey messages of honesty, forgiveness, understanding and compassion.

Implementation

Our RE curriculum is taught in accordance to the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2022. The syllabus is based around themes and is designed to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Across each phase pupils explore all of the 24 dispositions set out in the syllabus through learning about religion, as well as learning from religion, including non-religious beliefs. Our Religious Education reflects our diverse school community and local area. We look at nine faiths: Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, the Sikh faith, Jainism, Judaism and Rastafarianism. In addition the 2022 syllabus gives equal respect to the teaching of non-religious views.

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in RE, at Lakey we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout Key Stage 2 as it builds upon prior knowledge and lays the foundations for continued faith-based learning as our children move to secondary school. By teaching about different beliefs and faiths we aim to promote healthy discussion and debate in order to deepen children’s understanding of themselves, their peers and the world around them. We do this through supporting their learning through lessons, celebrations, links to curriculum, artefacts, assemblies, stories and audio-visual materials.

Religious Education is taught in units focusing on one of the 24 dispositions. Each class will follow 2 dispositions each half term. The dispositions are based on a spiral curriculum approach, which are encountered by pupils in each phase of their education. curriculum is designed so that each of the dispositions is revisited at a deeper level in higher year groups.

RE at Lakey Lane is taught using a learning model which breaks the dispositions in to 4 aspects. They are:

-learning from experience

-learning about religious traditions and non-religious world views

-learning from faith and non-religious world views

-learning to discern

RE in Early Years is largely covered through the areas of PSHE and Understanding the World (as laid out in the DFE Development Matters). Our aim is to enable children to develop a positive sense of themselves and others, and to learn how to form and maintain positive and respectful relationships. They will begin to understand and value the differences of individuals and groups within the local community and develop an awareness of the wider world. They will do this through a balance of guided and planned teaching based on the dispositions, as well as pursuing their own learning within carefully planned activities within the provision. While RE is non-statutory in Nursery, we encourage the children to use their imagination and curiosity to develop their appreciation of the world in which they live by asking questions and sharing their own experiences.

Each religious festival is celebrated and explored.

In Key Stage 1, children have an hour’s lesson each fortnight.

In Key Stage 2, children receive a 50 minute lesson each fortnight.

Any dispositions which have not been fully covered, are taught through explicit RE days at the end of each half term.

We are looking to develop our offer of trips/experiences linked to Religious Education to deepen our children’s curiosity of the world and further promote the respectful attitude they have towards the different religions and faiths of all our pupils. 

We are currently developing how we assess our children. Discussions, debates and evidence in books is used to gauge progress made.

Impact

 Our R.E curriculum enables our children to develop an understanding of other people’s beliefs, cultures and ways of life and allows them to understand why they choose to live in that way. Our curriculum prepares our children to be citizens in multi-cultural Birmingham as well as an ever changing and diverse world.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Pupils’ reflections and verbal discussions about their learning; evaluations at the end of each unit to assess their own development as well as pupil interviews with school leaders.
• Due to the respectful culture embedded in school, children are keen to share their experiences of festivals and celebrations in class, with staff and as a part of assemblies.