Religious Education

Religious Education at Minet Junior School

Intent

At Minet Junior School, learning RE aims to develop respect, tolerance and support the values and the preparation of pupils for life in modern Britain. Through an enquiry-based model, we aim to develop children’s critical thinking skills, increase their motivation to learn, and enhance their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with people and their beliefs. We believe in the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief. We want the children at Minet Junior School to develop a respect for other beliefs and religions and appreciate and celebrate the diverse community in which they live.

Implementation

• At Minet Junior School, Religious Education is taught through weekly lessons.
• We use an enquiry model with a 4-step approach as the basis for implementing Religious Education, using a scheme called ‘Discovery RE’ which incorporates the Hillingdon Agreed Syllabus units of work.
• Each year group focuses on Christianity plus one other religion, meaning both religions have multiple enquiries (or 6-week units) per year. This ensures that the children revisit prior learning for both religions throughout the year to build on the previous enquiries, and Christmas and Easter enquiries are built on year-on-year throughout the child’s primary school journey.

• Year 3 Christianity & Hinduism
• Year 4 Christianity & Judaism
• Year 5 Christianity & Sikhism
• Year 6 Christianity & Islam

• Each  unit (enquiry) is based around a key enquiry question and this is explored with a 4-step process:

• Engagement The children start from their own experience to ensure understanding of the concept being studied.
• Investigation They then move into investigating that concept in depth from the point of view of the chosen religion. Children will investigate through a variety of activities, including videos, exploration of photos, handling artefacts, drama activities, and visits to places of worship along with receiving visitors and through stories. We believe this helps pupils to remember what they have learnt and deepen their knowledge and understanding
• Evaluation Children complete an assessment activity to evaluate the question in light of their new knowledge. The key question for the enquiry allows children to weigh up and apply ‘evidence’ (subject knowledge) and reach a conclusion based on this.
• Expression This is an opportunity for children to embed their own reflections on their learning. They reflect on whether they can express what difference this enquiry has made to them, their thinking and their starting point.

• We focus on critical thinking skills, on personal reflection into the child’s own thoughts and feelings, on growing subject knowledge and nurturing spiritual development. Each unit makes links to SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) and British Values.

Impact

The RE curriculum at Minet Junior School promotes inquisitive minds, respect, tolerance and understanding for all those around them, including themselves. We believe that the enquiry model allows children to have a better understanding of the main religions and how they can work from and alongside others, to create a cohesive community. The impact of this curriculum ensures that, by the time children leave Minet Junior School, they would have explored five of the main religions in the UK through a lively, thought provoking RE curriculum through enquiry-based RE lessons.

Children and teachers assess progress in each unit against these statements:

• Support personal spiritual development
• Develop subject knowledge
• Build skills of evaluation and discernment

There are 3 age-related expectation descriptors for each enquiry linked to these statements. These expectations are WORKING TOWARDS (WTS), AT (EXS), and BEYOND (GD).

At the end of each enquiry, children have an opportunity to self-assess their learning against these level descriptors and to identify their own next steps. Teachers also use these level descriptors to monitor children’s progress and set next steps at the end of each unit.

We measure the impact of RE throughout the year by tracking the children’s progress via Target Tracker, as it allows us to ensure that pupils are building on their skills and knowledge over time. It allows us to plan more accurately and enabling pupils to know and remember more.