Religious Education
Subject Leader: Jac Johnson
Vision
The principal aim of Religious Education (RE) is to enable pupils to hold balanced and informed conversations about religion and belief.
The principal aim (intent) incorporates the following aims of RE, for children to:
- Know about and understand Christianity as a diverse global living faith through the exploration of core beliefs, using an approach that critically engages with the biblical text;
- Gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and world views, appreciating diversity, continuity and change within the religions and world views being studied;
- Engage with challenging questions of meaning and purpose raised by human existence and experience;
- Recognise the concept of religion and its continuing influence on Britain’s cultural heritage and in the lives of individuals and societies in different times, cultures and places;
- Explore their own religious, spiritual and philosophical ways living, believing and thinking.
By the time children leave our school in Year 6, we expect that all children are religiously literate and are able to do the following in an age appropriate manner:
- Give a theologically informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith;
- Show an informed and respectful attitude to religions and non-religious worldviews in their search for God and meaning;
- Engage in meaningful and informed dialogue with those of other faiths and none;
- Reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.
- Curriculum Implementation
- RE is delivered through a well-sequenced curriculum that integrates Understanding Christianity units with the Diocese of Peterborough syllabus, ensuring coverage of Christianity alongside a range of other religious and non-religious worldviews.
- Lessons are designed to be engaging, enquiry-based, and reflective, encouraging pupils to explore ‘Big Ideas’ such as belief, worship, and meaning, as well as to consider personal and societal implications.
- The curriculum is reviewed regularly by subject leaders to ensure it remains relevant, rigorous, and responsive to pupil needs and national developments.
- 1 hour per week curriculum time is allocated to RE to enable pupils to achieve ambitious subject-specific goals and develop a deep, accurate understanding of religion locally and globally.
Teaching Quality and Pedagogy
- Teachers employ diverse pedagogical strategies including discussion, storytelling, role play, and use of artefacts to make RE accessible and meaningful for all pupils.
- Lessons are tailored to meet the needs of all learners, including those with SEND, ensuring high expectations and full engagement.
- Formative assessment is integral to teaching, enabling teachers to identify misconceptions and tailor support to help pupils progress confidently.
- A positive classroom climate is cultivated where pupils feel safe to express their views and develop a love for RE through respectful dialogue and enquiry.
Subject Knowledge and Expertise
- Staff delivering RE receive ongoing professional development to enhance their subject knowledge and pedagogical skills.
- Subject leaders facilitate collaboration and training sessions drawing on the wider RE community and current academic research to keep practice current and effective.
- Teachers are supported in understanding both substantive content (religious beliefs and practises) and disciplinary knowledge (how religion is studied and understood).
Curriculum Adaptation and Inclusion
- The RE curriculum is adapted to ensure accessibility and challenge for all pupils, including those with SEND.
- Teaching approaches and resources are tailored to meet diverse learning needs and cultural backgrounds.
- High expectations are maintained for all pupils, with additional support provided to ensure equitable access to learning.
- The curriculum promotes respect for diversity and inclusion, reflecting Hartwell’s Christian values of honesty, respect, and love.
Assessment and Progress
- We use the hexagon assessment tool at the end of each unit to assess pupil understanding and progress in RE.
- Assessment captures pupils’ knowledge of substantive content, their ability to engage with disciplinary methods, and their personal reflections on religious and non-religious worldviews.
- Progress is monitored against clear learning objectives aligned with the curriculum’s end goals, ensuring pupils build on prior knowledge and deepen their understanding over time.
- Assessment outcomes inform teaching and curriculum adjustments to address gaps and support continuous improvement.
The RE Subject Leader
As the RE Subject Leader, I am committed to ensuring a rich and meaningful religious education curriculum that inspires and engages all pupils. I monitor teaching and learning through lesson observations, work scrutiny, and pupil voice to identify strengths and areas for development, taking action where necessary. I ensure that teachers have access to high-quality, relevant resources that bring RE to life, including materials for classroom use and digital tools to support planning and delivery. I actively participate in professional development opportunities and share valuable insights with staff through regular training sessions and meetings, helping to maintain and enhance their expertise. My aim is to support teachers in delivering RE that fosters spiritual growth and understanding, and I am always available to offer guidance and signpost additional support when needed.
Pupil Voice
We consider it important to gather the pupil’s views throughout the school year. This help us to understand what the children recall from their lessons and how it supports their life. Please click on the link below to see the children's responses.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) Development in RE
What we now call SMSC has long been part of education. The notion of developing not just academic and practical skills but also self-knowledge, moral courage, a capacity for imaginative sympathy for others has long been a desired outcome of education.RE has always been an SMSC rich curriculum subject, to give further detail to this in the context of RE, please see below:
Spiritual Development in RE: refers to the aspects of the child’s spirit which is enhanced by school life and learning, and may well describe the ‘spirit of determination, sharing or open-mindedness’. The ‘spiritual’ should not be confused with ‘religious’.
RE provides opportunities for children to reflect on their own views and how they have been formed, as well as the views of others. It also encourages children to ‘wonder’, and consider ideas that touch the ‘other’: ideas that consider there being something greater than material human existence.
Moral Development in RE: is about exploring and developing children’s own moral outlook and understanding of right and wrong. It is also about navigating moral diversity in the modern world. RE is extremely well suited to exploring social and personal morality in significant ways.
RE offers children the opportunity to explore differing moral outlooks such as religious texts about right and wrong, codes for living, treatment of animals and the environment and so on.
Social Development in RE: develops children’s understanding of social situations and contexts, and promotes exploration of the society we wish to create in the future.
An aspect of social development that RE provides opportunity for is on social insight: a chance to learn about and reflect upon significant social and political issues which affect individuals, groups and the nation.
Cultural Development in RE: is about developing a child’s ‘own culture’ and to gain an understanding of ‘wider culture’. Firstly this refers to each child’s own home culture and background, whether religious or not, and secondly the term describes our national culture and its place within the world.
RE is the perfect subject in which to explore Britain’s rich diversity of religious, ethnic and geographical cultures.
The RE Curriculum at Hartwell
As a curriculum subject, RE is locally determined, not nationally, and in a Church School, such as Hartwell, RE has the status of a core subject. Every child has an entitlement to RE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, which we belief our RE curriculum provides. Our curriculum for RE is from EYFS – Year 6.
Our school is part of The Diocese of Peterborough and therefore we follow ‘The Diocese of Peterborough Syllabus for Religious Education 2019-2024’. The curriculum sets out a clear model for teaching and learning in RE. There are three clearly defined, yet linked, elements to the teaching of RE as suits the religion, concept and question being explored:
- Making Sense of Beliefs – Identifying and making sense of core religious and non-religious concepts and beliefs; understanding what these beliefs mean within the context of their traditions; recognising how and why sources of authority are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.
- Understanding the Impact – Examining how and why people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.
- Making Connections – Reasoning about, reflecting on, evaluating and connecting the concepts, beliefs and practices studied; allowing children to challenge ideas and the ideas to challenge children’s thinking; discerning possible connections between these ideas and children’s own lives and ways of understanding the world.
In a Church of England Primary School, Christianity is taught for 2/3 of the curriculum with other religions taught for the remaining third. For the RE Curriculum Long Term Map, click here.
When teaching Christianity, we use ‘Understanding Christianity’ and ‘The Emmanuel Project’ to support the teaching other world religions. Both resources are recommended for use by The Diocese of Peterborough. Both resources support a progressive curriculum in RE.
Language progression- this gives detail of the specific and theological language children in each year group children should know and understand.