Intent

We aspire to challenge minds and ignite curiosity through an RE curriculum that is accessible to all learners and allows our most curious thinkers to flourish in their reasoning. Each of our key enquiries gives space for engagement, investigation, evaluation and personal expression, so that all learners have plentiful opportunities to explore their diverse world of religion, carefully considering where their own developing beliefs fit within it. Children and adults reflect on how people of faith act as good neighbours in order that they might find inspiring new ways to be well-rounded forces for good in the world. Children here know that faith is a special and precious thing to many, and they learn to value its contributions to our local and global community.

Implementation

• To ensure children develop a knowledge of Christianity and several other major religions and world views, the school uses the ‘Discovery RE’ scheme as a medium term planning skeleton.
• Teachers create individual lesson plans based on the suggested progression in the Discovery RE units of work. Staff in the school are responsible for making our RE curriculum fit our context. 
• To reflect our status as a Church of England school, greater emphasis is given to Christianity than to other religions and world views combined. At least 50% (usually more) of our teaching time is devoted to Christianity.
• We provide opportunities for progression through four styles of learning:

• Engagement: children use their own perspectives and experiences to begin to consider a theme. Often this will not refer explicitly to a particular religion.
• Investigation: children learn and record knowledge about religious stories, traditions and practices. This includes questions of ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’
• Evaluation: children progressively learn to respectfully assign value to religious texts, stories and practices. They are encouraged to carefully consider how people’s faiths are important to them for a variety of reasons.
• Expression: Children are enabled to express their own views and spiritual responses to faith and religion. As they progress through the school, comparisons are drawn between religious teachings and individual experience.
• These steps will not always follow in this order. In some modules, there are opportunities to express or evaluate in immediate response to engagement or investigation. The interweaving of these skills throughout modules is encouraged, as higher-level thinking - such as creative expression - need not be a final product, but rather a part of the learning process that leads to further, deeper, more targeted investigation. More detail on these steps can be found in our RE Policy.

Impact

As a result of our RE teaching at Trinity, you will see:

• Regular references to the importance of commitment from staff and pupils
• Independent recording of religious stories using a combination of writing, illustrations and drama
• Honest discussions about children’s own views about religious and spiritual questions
• An appreciation and celebration of each other’s faiths and beliefs
• A growing knowledge of Christianity and several other major religions
• Difficult questions being celebrated and used as points upon which to reflect
• Children beginning to recognise that the way people behave is influenced by their beliefs
• Regular visits from religious leaders and to places of worship.

Subject lead: Tom Eaton