Religious Education - Intent, Implementation & Impact
Intent
We believe it is essential for children to learn from and about religion to develop their understanding of the multi-cultural world around them. At Cedarwood, we aim to develop our pupils' knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other principal religions represented in Great Britain, so that they to grow into empathetic individuals who appreciate the way religious beliefs shape life and behaviour. It is our intention that pupils develop their ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues, which will in turn enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and enable them to be responsible and tolerant citizens of the future.
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Implementation At Cedarwood, Religious Education is taught throughout the school and plays an important role, alongside PSHE, in promoting social awareness and understanding in our pupils. They are encouraged to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. They learn about different beliefs, practices and influences of different religions within the local, national and global community with the aim of developing their appreciation of these. Pupils are introduced to the concept that some people have no religious beliefs and hold a more philosophical view to the world around them. Learning is carefully sequenced and structured to ensure knowledge of religions and worldviews build over time and the following principles shape RE lessons at Cedarwood:
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We promote an enquiry based approach to RE through the implementation of the Emmanuel project, the Suffolk agreed syllabus for Key Stage 1 and 2, which teaches Christianity and the main world religions. The curriculum aims for all pupils to be able to:
- reflect on and consider religious and spiritual feelings, experiences and concepts, such as worship, wonder, praise, thanks, concern, joy and sadness
- ask and respond imaginatively to puzzling questions, communicating their ideas
identify what matters to them and others, including those with religious commitments, and communicate their responses - reflect on how spiritual and moral values relate to their own behaviour particularly those concerned with right and wrong, justice and injustice
- recognise that religious teachings and ideas make a difference to individuals, families and the local community
Pupils are taught Christianity in each year group as this reflects the majority of religious traditions celebrated in Great Britain. We teach pupils to be respectful and tolerant citizens of the future through developing their reasoning and evaluation skills, expanding their language acquisition and making comparisons across religions.
Pupils are taught knowledge, skills and understanding through learning about Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Humanism. Pupils in EYFS learn about special celebratory events that take place in the community and the wider world, which often sets the foundation for future learning. Our curriculum is adapted so that pupils learn through imagination, debate and discussion and build upon their previous knowledge of beliefs and practices.
We maximise opportunities to bring the curriculum to life.
Experiences and enrichment opportunities in Religious Education include:
- handling artefacts/exploring artefacts online
- exploring sacred texts
- meeting visitors form the local community
- making visits to religious places of worship where possible, and where not, making use of videos and the internet
- using ICT to further explore religion and belief globally
- comparing religions and worldviews through discussion
- debating and communicating religious belief, world views and philosophical ideas and answering and asking ultimate questions posed by these
Impact
We aim to equip our pupils to understand and appreciate other people’s values, beliefs, attitudes and religious rituals. It is our intention to create a culture of tolerance and respect, which can inspire and motivate the next generation to make the world a harmonious and better place to live in.