RE - Religious Education
Subject Leader - Mr Shannon
Religious Education is a valued part of the curriculum at Forefield Junior School – it encourages children to develop a sensitivity and respect for the diverse cultural, moral and spiritual beliefs of others around them.
Through varied and engaging lessons, children are encouraged to make connections between the differing aspects of religions and consider the different forms of religious expression. As a result, Religious Education plays an essential part in preparing our children for living and working side by side with others in the modern world. It helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as the identity of their Religious backgrounds.
Such understanding comes from the study of regular religious routines, scripture, beliefs, emotions, actions and artefacts. This provides children with the opportunity to appreciate the uniqueness of belief, develops a culture of respect for others and provides children with the opportunity to consider other ways of life in context with their own and ask thoughtful questions based on their own experiences - skills that are essential in adult life.
We have designed our curriculum to help pupils gain ‘hands-on’ experiences - immersing children in different religious cultures through handling artefacts, welcoming visitors from other faiths into school and visiting places of worship.
Religious Education Curriculum
Autumn Term |
Spring Term |
Summer Term |
|
Year 3 |
What is it like for someone to follow God? What is the Trinity and why is it important for Christians? |
How do festivals and worship show what matters to a Muslim? How do festivals and family life show what matters to Jewish people? |
What do Christians learn from the creation story? How and why do people try to make the world a better place? |
Year 4 |
What kind of world did Jesus want? What do Hindus believe God is like? |
For Christians when Jesus left, what was the impact of Pentecost? Why do Christians call the day that Jesus died ‘Good Friday’? |
What does it mean to be a Hindu in modern Britain today? How and why do people mark the significant events of life? |
Year 5 |
What does it mean if Christians believe God is Holy and loving? What does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain today? |
Why is the Torah so important to Jewish people? Creation and science, conflicting or complimentary? |
How can following God bring freedom and justice? What matters most to Humanists and Christians? |
Year 6 |
Christians and how to live: what would Jesus do? Why do Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah? |
What do Hindus want to be good? What difference does the resurrection make to Christians? |
For Christians, what kind of king is Jesus? Why do some people believe in God and some not? How does faith help people when life gets hard? |
Reading within the Religious Education Curriculum
In today's information-driven society, the ability to read critically is essential for academic and career success. By teaching reading across the curriculum, we are equipping children in our school with a crucial skill that will facilitate learning across the breadth of the curriculum. Reading is not just about decoding words on a page, but also about comprehending and analysing information. Reading in Religious Education lessons involves engaging with a variety of texts, including sacred texts, stories, and modern sources, to build understanding of different beliefs and practices. Effective reading in Religious Education requires pupils to develop skills like finding and using information, following arguments, summarizing, and understanding specialist vocabulary, while also connecting the material to real-world experiences and personal meaning. Teachers facilitate this when they explicitly teach subject specific vocabulary, encourage discussion, inquiry, and helping children critically analyse information from both academic and lived perspectives and appreciation for other faiths and world views.
