Intent
At Elmwood Infant School we believe the content of Religious Education should mirror the diverse community of our school. We encourage children to reflect on and compare their own religious beliefs, values and traditions with those of others. We want all children to develop a rigorous understanding of different world faiths to enable them to not only become respecting and open-minded individuals but also to help develop their own sense of identity and belonging through self-awareness and reflection. Our Religious Education curriculum is closely linked with the Rights Respecting approach we have adopted as a school and links to year group topics wherever possible.
Implementation
Each termly RE topic at Elmwood Infants is taught in a cross faith way in order to promote comparison and understanding between religions. We use the 2018 Croydon Agreed Syllabus, which puts an emphasis on enquiry-based learning. The principle aims are to learn about religion but also to learn from religion and human experience. Termly topics are carefully planned to ensure progression from the Foundation Stage through to the end of KS1. Children in EYFS encounter religions and world views through special people, books, times, places and objects. They listen to and talk about stories. They ask questions and reflect on their own feelings and experiences. They use their imagination and curiosity to develop their appreciation of and wonder at the world in which they live. EYFS thematic planning identifies opportunities for connections and links to religious understanding. In Year 1 and 2 lessons are planned and delivered in a variety of ways ensuring that all children can access and participate in lessons. Interactive, practical activities encourage the children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions. Where appropriate, children in KS1 can select the level of challenge they feel confident working at within lessons.
Experiences and enrichment opportunities at Elmwood Infant School:
- handling artefacts
- exploring scared texts
- using imaginative play or drama to express feelings and ideas
- responding to images, games, stories, art, music and dance
- meeting visitors from local religious communities
- making visits to religious places of worship where possible, and where not, making use of videos and the internet
- taking part in whole school events- (multi-faith days, Harvest Festival, school performances)
- participating in moments of quiet reflection
- using ICT to further explore religion and belief globally
We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. We acknowledge that each religion studied can contribute to the education of all our pupils. All religions and their communities are treated with respect and sensitivity and we value the links, which are, and can be made between home, school, and a faith community.
Impact Statement
At the end of their time at Elmwood Infant School, we hope that children will achieve age related expectations in RE. We accomplish this by following the Croydon SACRE syllabus which gives a steady progression in learning throughout their time with us.
The impact of our RE curriculum is to give children the knowledge and skills to talk about and compare the major religions of the world.
We pride ourselves on having a very diverse cohort at Elmwood Infants. We want our children to be understanding and knowledgeable about not only their own religion but the religions of those around them. Our curriculum enables children to become open and accepting members of their local community. We include the children’s own experiences to help bring their learning alive and to build their confidence within the classroom.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods;
- RE coordinator monitoring of book look and learning journals
- RE coordinator learning walks
- professional dialogue between RE coordinator and class teachers including sharing of best practice
- RE assessment sheets
- use of pupil voice sheets and pupil discussions at the end of an RE topic
The progress of children in Foundation Stage is assessed termly within Understanding the World area of learning.
