Religious Education

Our Intent

At East Herrington Primary Academy, Religious Education makes a vital contribution to pupils’ education. It develops knowledgeable, respectful and curious pupils who can engage thoughtfully with religious and non-religious worldviews, understand how beliefs shape lives and communities, and consider questions of meaning, ethics, identity and belonging.

Our curriculum enables pupils to:

• build, retrieve and apply secure substantive knowledge of religious and non-religious worldviews, including beliefs, texts, practices, people, communities, concepts and precise vocabulary;

• develop ways of knowing by interpreting texts, artefacts and symbols; listening to lived experience; asking theological, philosophical and social-scientific questions; and using evidence carefully;

• develop personal knowledge by recognising their own assumptions, values and responses after first learning what different people believe, how they know this and how belief shapes life;

• revisit recurring concepts including belonging and community, God or ultimate reality, sources of authority, worship and practice, ethics and living, and worldviews and diversity so that knowledge becomes increasingly connected;

• encounter diversity within as well as between traditions, using precise language such as “some”, “many”, “this community” and “this interpretation” rather than over generalising;

• contribute strongly to SMSC, personal development, respectful dialogue, community cohesion and British Values while maintaining RE as a distinct academic subject; and

• recognise links between RE and careers including theology, philosophy, ethics, law, journalism, chaplaincy, community work, heritage, education and equality and diversity roles.

Our Implementation

The curriculum is carefully sequenced from EYFS to Year 6 and follows the Sunderland Agreed Syllabus structure: Make sense of belief, Understand the impact and Make connections. Existing unit order is retained. Each unit identifies prior learning, a “Why This? Why Now?” rationale, key vocabulary and concepts, future learning, careers and SMSC links so that teachers teach cumulatively rather than as isolated topics.

Christianity is revisited through a coherent conceptual thread including God, Creation, Fall, Gospel, Incarnation, Salvation, Trinity, Holy Spirit, Kingdom of God and Christian living. Judaism, Islam, Hindu Dharma and non-religious worldviews are revisited with increasing depth, including attention to lived diversity within traditions and contemporary Britain and Sunderland where appropriate.

A typical RE sequence includes:

• purposeful retrieval of relevant prior knowledge, vocabulary, beliefs, practices and concepts;

• explicit teaching and modelling of new substantive knowledge before pupils are expected to interpret, compare, reflect or evaluate;

• engagement with appropriate sources of authority, stories, texts, artefacts, symbols, images, testimony, sacred places and lived-worldview examples;

• opportunities to make sense of belief, understand how belief may influence lived practice and make connections between ideas, evidence, worldviews and pupils’ developing understanding;

• careful teaching of diversity within traditions and the distinction between religious and non-religious worldviews, avoiding assumptions about the beliefs of pupils, families or staff;

• structured discussion and increasingly reasoned responses to theological, philosophical and social-scientific questions; and

• checks for understanding so misconceptions, over generalisations and gaps in prerequisite knowledge are identified and addressed promptly.

Learning is sequenced so pupils know first, understand perspectives and evidence, then reflect or evaluate. Personal response is grounded in taught content. Regular curriculum RE is protected: assemblies, collective worship, visits, visitors and celebrations enrich the curriculum but do not replace taught RE.

The Impact

• By Year 6, pupils can explain significant beliefs, concepts, practices and sources of authority in the religions and non-religious worldviews studied.

• Pupils can explain how beliefs influence lived practice and how individuals and communities within the same tradition may understand or express beliefs differently.

• Pupils use precise vocabulary and evidence from texts, artefacts, testimony and lived experience to support their explanations.

• Pupils can distinguish between theological, philosophical and social-scientific questions and offer reasoned responses that recognise different viewpoints.

• Pupils leave primary school prepared for KS3 RE/RS: knowledgeable, respectful, curious and able to engage with complex questions about belief, meaning, ethics, identity and community.