‘To promote the enquiry into significant human questions and appreciate their importance to others.’
The teaching of Religious Education is crucial in allowing children to mould their own identity and to value their culture and the cultures of others. It is a key component in guiding morality and enabling young people to grow into active and responsible members of the community. Our aim at Dartford Primary Academy, in teaching the academic discipline of Religious Education in line with the philosophy of the Internal Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) and KENT SACRE Agreed Syllabus, is that children will develop a wide range of transferable skills and knowledge that will benefit them across the curriculum; as they progress in their educational careers; and as they enter the world of work. They will have a knowledge and respect for the people they meet, regardless of background, and will be impactful, global citizens. However, we do appreciate that parents have the right to withdraw their children from RE on the grounds that they wish to provide their own religious education (School Standards and Framework Act 1998 S71 (3)).
We teach the English National Curriculum for Religious Education and use the PYP framework to deliver it. It is sequentially mapped to make clear the end points that the children are building towards and what pupils need to know and be able to do to reach those endpoints. Therefore, we are equipping pupils with the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to succeed in the next phase of their education and beyond.
The Religious Education curriculum uses the inquiry based key question approach as planned in the KENT SACRE Agreed Syllabus and, where possible, is taught within the six key transdisciplinary themes of the Primary Years Programme. EYFS and Key Stage One provides pupils with 36 hours of teaching time through direct sessions, continuous provision and festival experience days. Key Stage Two covers 45 hours of teaching time through hourly sessions, longer immersion sessions and festival experience days. The teaching of skills is progressive and promotes inquiry- based, open-ended learning that encourages questioning, making comparisons, explaining, expressing, discussing, exploring religious stories and vocabulary, developing insight, knowledge, empathy and respect.
In line with the 2011 census for religious demography for Dartford, pupils predominantly study Christians but also study Muslims, Hindus and Humanists. The festivals of Harvest, Christmas, Easter, Diwali and Eid are marked in school and in addition, pupils experience aspects of some Sikh, Jewish and Buddhist festivals.
- EYFS: Christians and culturally relevant festivals from other faiths
- Y1: Christians/Muslims
- Y2: Christians/Muslims
- Y3: Christians/Muslims and Hindus Y4: Christians/Muslims and Hindus
- Y5: Christians/Muslims/Hindus and Jews Y6: Christians/Muslims/Hindus and Jews
Years 5 and 6 also look at some aspects of the beliefs of Humanists
We ensure teachers have expert knowledge of the subject through CPD opportunities. This empowers teachers to check pupils’ understanding of the subject effectively and identify and correct misconceptions. Assessment of the pupils also informs teaching and helps pupils embed key concepts in their long-term memory and apply them fluently.
The progressive teaching of RE skills will enable children to know and understand about a range of religions and worldviews, express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and world views and gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with them. Religious Education fulfils a vital role within the curriculum and is relevant to all pupils, regardless of their religious (or non- religious) background. It introduces them to a world beyond their own experience of culture and belief, enabling them to make links between their own lives and that of those in their community and in the wider world, developing an understanding of other people’s cultures, reasons for being and ways of life. As such, Religious Education is invaluable in a rapidly changing world and it will allow all children, including those that are disadvantaged and pupils with SEND, to acquire the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.