St Nicholas Priory CE VA Primary School: Religious Education and Worldview Curriculum Overview

Religious Education is an entitlement for all pupils and its place in the school curriculum is an acknowledgement of the important role that beliefs and values play in peoples’ lives, regardless of particular religious commitments. It is also an acknowledgement that religious beliefs and practices play a key part in the lives of many people worldwide today as they have done throughout history. As a curriculum area Religious Education offers pupils an opportunity to develop a better understanding of themselves, the people around them and the world in which they live.

St Nicholas Priory CE VA Primary School is a Church of England Voluntary Aided School and Religious Education is provided in line with the requirements of the relevant Education Acts and follows the Statement of Entitlement;

• Christianity should be the majority study in Religious Education and it should draw upon the richness and diversity of Christian experience in the breadth of its Anglican and other denominational forms, and in the variety of worldwide forms.
• The encounter must be an open one which stems from and instils respect for different views and interpretations and in which real dialogue and education takes place
• Religious Education must be provided according to the Norfolk Agreed Syllabus – 2019

We recognise that our pupils come from a variety of religious and secular backgrounds and welcome this diversity. The Religious Education programme seeks to be sensitive to the home background of each child; it is not the function of Religious Education to promote or disparage particular religious views.

How we teach RE?

The RE at our school is a chance for children to express ideas, reflect, listen to others and develop an essence of themselves through learning about the world around them.

Re is taught in blocks in line with other curriculum subjects in the form of an RE week. During this week teachers have the freedom to plan their RE according to their cohort in terms of timing understanding that a minimum of 5 hours KS1 and 6 hours KS2 is covered with the scope to add more time. 

Lesson consist of discussion, exploration, reflection and consolidation allowing children a safe space to explore their own and others belief systems and how the world works.

Children from year 2-6 are required to add one piece of quality work along with the unit knowledge note to represent their learning from the unit. Year 1 have their work recorded on Evidence Me. Along side this debate, discussion, drama, art, research and other active activities are encouraged throughout the block. Trips and visits are also heavenly encouraged and supported to enhance learning. 

The RE Curriculum 

The RE curriculum at St Nicholas Priory is designed to enable progressive learning throughout the year groups covering a variety of religions in an inter  linking way that enables the pupils to learn about other religions and cultures whilst reflecting on their own beliefs. In September 2020 the new Norfolk Agreed Syllabus was introduced from Year 1 to Year 6.

The new Norfolk agreed syllabus focuses on teaching RE as a multi-disciplinary subject. The three areas are to serve the following purpose;

Knowing (Theology); It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires pupils to think like theologians, or to look at concepts through a theological lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers that arise from inside religions and worldviews.

Believing (Philosophy); It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires pupils to think like philosophers, or to look at concepts through a philosophical lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised through considering the nature of knowledge, existence and morality.

Living (Human and social sciences); It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires pupils to think like human and social scientists, or to look at concepts through a human/social science lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the impact of religions and worldviews on people and their lives.

The units build upon the previous units as the years progress to enable maximum impact on the learners learning and allowing for deeper thinking and higher level questioning.

Each half term pupils focus on a question based topic that encourages exploration and allows allow pupils to gather their own thoughts and feelings drawn upon their day to day lives, own cultural influences and the learning that talks place in the classroom.

have a broad understanding of RE and the world around them.

Each year covers at least 50% Christianity, as set out in the Statement of Entitlement, with many units focusing on Christianity and most other units referring to Christianity.