Religious Education (RE)

Welcome to Longton Primary School, where we recognise the vital role that Religious Education (RE) plays in shaping our pupils into tolerant and respectful citizens. Our RE curriculum is designed to help children gain a profound understanding of Christianity and other major world religions, fostering an appreciation of how these beliefs influence lives and behaviours. By encouraging open discussions about religious and moral issues, we enable our pupils to make informed judgments and develop their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural awareness. At Longton Primary, we are committed to cultivating a sense of curiosity about the diverse world around us, ensuring our children grow into engaged and compassionate global citizens.

Subject Leader - Helen Pratten

Curriculum Intent

Intent:

Here, at Longton Primary School, the aim of Religious Education is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain; to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

 

Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school.  At Longton Primary, Religious Education helps children make sense of the world around them and supports their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development.

 

While there is no National curriculum for RE, the National curriculum (2014) states that:

• ‘Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which: Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils.

• Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

  RE is taught by class teachers using the Kapow scheme of work.

Kapow Primary’s Religion and worldviews (R&W) scheme of work aims to inspire pupils to become curious, reflective and open-minded thinkers. The intention is for pupils to develop the confidence to ask meaningful questions, explore a range of beliefs and worldviews and reflect on their own values and those of others.

The scheme aims to raise awareness of how religion and worldviews influence individual lives, communities and cultures over time. Its goal is to encourage pupils to become respectful and thoughtful citizens who can engage with diversity and contribute positively to a pluralistic society.

The scheme supports teachers in developing their subject knowledge and confidence, enabling them to deliver engaging and inclusive lessons. The curriculum is designed to be both accessible and ambitious, ensuring that all pupils participate fully and achieve their potential.

 

Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers

All children will have Quality First Teaching. Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs. As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.

Curriculum Implementation

We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children. 

Due to the area we live, work and play being predominantly white British we have a strong link with a school that is 90% plus EAL with the predominant religion being Muslim. 

Kapow Primary supports teachers in delivering the R&W curriculum effectively through clear and informative CPD videos.

The videos are designed to help teachers feel confident in their role by providing guidance on key concepts, teaching strategies and best practices.

Each lesson begins with a short activity revisiting prior learning. This helps reinforce key knowledge, activate long-term memory and create connections between past and new learning.

Recap and recall activities are varied to keep the start of the lesson engaging and fun while still supporting active recall.

 

Kapow Primary’s R&W scheme incorporates a spiral curriculum model, ensuring that children revisit and develop their understanding of key themes and concepts as they progress through the curriculum.

This approach allows them to make meaningful connections, reinforce their learning and achieve mastery over time.

• Revisiting key concepts – pupils encounter the same ideas multiple times throughout their education, with each revisit adding more complexity.

• Progressive depth – concepts are not just repeated but expanded upon, helping pupils to make connections and develop a richer understanding over time.

• Knowledge retention – regular exposure to key ideas strengthens memory and prevents knowledge from being forgotten.

• Skill development – pupils refine and apply their skills in different contexts, improving their ability to think critically and solve problems.

• Adaptive learning – by building on prior knowledge, the curriculum meets pupils at their current level and supports all learners, including those who need extra reinforcement and those who are ready for greater challenges.

Curriculum Impact

The children at Longton Primary enjoying learning lots about other religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion.  Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world.  R.E. acts as a hub, therefore, between social aspects of learning, science and geography.  Through R.E. our children are developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life, which they are then able to communicate to the wider community.

 

R.E. offers our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way. As such, R.E. is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.

 

This section outlines how the curriculum checks what pupils know, understand and are able to do as a result of studying RE.

Formative

Kapow Primary RE lessons include ongoing assessment opportunities, such as questioning, retrieval practice and interactive activities. These enable teachers to assess understanding in real time and adapt their teaching accordingly.

 

Summative

Each unit provides an Assessment quiz and Knowledge catcher, which allow teachers to measure pupils’ understanding at key points. These tools help gauge how well pupils have retained key knowledge and skills over time.

 

Evidencing Progress

 

Written outcomes

·       Pupils demonstrate their learning and provide tangible evidence of progress through a variety of activities, including structured written work, annotated diagrams and creative responses.

·       Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.

·       Marking of written work in books.

 

Pupil voice

·       Lessons encourage discussion, reflection and verbal explanations. This allows teachers to capture pupils’ understanding through questioning, class discussions and recorded responses, supporting a broader view of progress beyond written work.

 

·       Formal reporting of standards across the curriculum.

 

·       Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum to parents. 

 

·       Subject tracker

 

The RE subject leader will continually monitor the impact RE teaching is having on the children’s learning through book looks and pupil chats to ensure the progress of knowledge and skills is being taught.  They will also ensure the knowledge taught is retained by the children and continually revisited and that the learners are able to apply the skills they have been taught to a variety of different settings, showing independence with their learning.  

Overview of Learning

Julie to Add