Intent

At Shortbrook Primary school, we believe that it is important for all our pupils to learn from and about religion, so that they can understand the world around them. The aim of the Religious Education in our school is to help children to acquire knowledge and to develop responsibility and respect for all aspects of diversity, whether it be social, cultural and religious, and prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.  While we provide as a school chances to support aspects of personal development in many ways, we use RE to make a distinctive contribution to the following four aspects of pupils’ learning and wellbeing; Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development. We encourage our pupils to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences.

Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school.

Implementation

• We use the 'Understanding Christianity' resource, alongside Sheffield SACRE RE Syllabus Units of Work.  This scheme celebrates all faiths and promotes tolerance and understanding of different beliefs.
• Learning is planned and sequenced to support pupils in building an ever-increasing picture over time, constantly building their knowledge and understanding of key subject knowledge and specialist vocabulary around concepts.
• RE is taught weekly and the learning in each year group centres around a question designed to guide children to explore an aspect of a world religion or belief through discussions. We make cross curricular links where appropriate to aid memory and enjoyment.
• Staff use stories, artefacts and where possible we would like our children to have opportunities to encounter local faith communities through visits to local places of worship to engage our children. We are extremely lucky that members of the local church, St Marks Church and The Salvation Army Westfield visit our school.
• Learning is not always recorded in a formal written way. Children are given the opportunity to use discussion, drama and art to interpret and present their understanding in different ways.

Impact

The children at Shortbrook Primary School, enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose, or choose not to follow a religion. Through their R.E. learning, we seek to ensure that all our pupils have an awareness and understanding of the beliefs and cultures within and beyond their community and equip them with essential skills that will support their enquiry and response to significant questions posed by religion and world views. It is also necessary to acknowledge that some of our pupils will have had less experience of the diversity that their community has to offer. Therefore, RE becomes a very special opportunity to create this link and begin the journey towards broadening their cultural experiences.