RE

Curriculum statement for Religious Education (RE) at Chorleywood Primary School

At Chorleywood Primary School, we are committed to providing our children with a curriculum that has a clear intention and impacts positively upon their needs.  It is designed to help pupils remember long term content and integrate new knowledge by coherently sequencing learning so that knowledge is cumulatively secured over time.

Curriculum Intent

Religious Education (RE) must be provided for all registered pupils in state-funded schools in England, unless withdrawn by their parents. As RE is not nationally determined, a locally agreed syllabus of RE is prepared by a local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) and adopted by a local authority. It is this Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus of Religious Education 2023-2028, which we have used as the basis of our planning and delivery of RE. The Agreed Syllabus reflects the views of Hertfordshire teachers and representatives of local faith and belief communities. It also reflects the emphasis now placed on what is called the ‘worldviews approach’ to RE arising out of the Commission on RE Report of 2018, ‘Religion and Worldviews:

The Way Forward, a national plan for RE’, the dual emphasis that Ofsted 2019 places on curriculum and personal development and the findings of the Research Review produced by Ofsted in May 2021.

The RE syllabus aims to ensure that all pupils acquire three types of knowledge:

1. Substantive knowledge - knowledge about religious and non-religious traditions:

 The different ways people express their beliefs

The artefacts and rituals associated with religious and non-religious traditions

Concepts which relate to religious and non-religious traditions.

1. Ways of knowing - pupils learn ‘how to know’ about religious and non-religious traditions: How to understand how the substantive knowledge came to be

How to interpret the accuracy and validity of claims being made 

The differences between conceptions and misconceptions

The types of methods used in enquiries, including the suitability of these methods.

1. Personal knowledge - this is the growing knowledge of how pupils' own values and beliefs connect with religious and non-religious traditions:

Pupils build this knowledge through reflection of how their own viewpoints relate to the religious and non-religious traditions

Content is chosen to explore concepts which are highly relevant, such as meaning and purpose, justice, and values. 

In RE, there are three ‘big ideas’: enquiry, understanding and reflection.

Chorleywood Curriculum Intent

At Chorleywood Primary School, we believe that RE both supports and strengthens what we aim to do in every aspect of school life. The RE curriculum reflects our caring ethos and the value which we place on the development of the whole child; spiritually, morally, socially, culturally and intellectually.   ‘RE is the open exploration of what people believe, their way of life and the impact of beliefs, values and ways of living in local, national and global communities. It engages pupils in the process of understanding what others believe, what is important to them, how they live their lives and what influences them. In doing this, pupils also reflect on their own beliefs and values and their main influences.’ (Herts Agreed Syllabus 2023-28)

 At this school we aim to achieve high quality RE for pupils of all religious traditions and none. RE teaching provides pupils with a systematic knowledge and understanding about Christianity, principal religions and worldviews which give life value. RE aims to enable pupils to become religiously and theologically literate so they can engage in life in an increasingly diverse society. It is not about telling pupils what religious views they should have but rather assists them in gaining shared human understanding, developing personal identity and searching for meaning in the context of evaluating different viewpoints.