Religious Education

How we teach RE

In Early Years RE is taught as a direct teach session as part of children’s Understanding the World and children are given the opportunity to continue their learning during continuous provision.  It is also taught through interactions with children, following their interests and experiences.   In Key Stage 1 RE is taught as a discrete subject. Lessons are adapted to meet the needs of all learners, including those with SEND, using inclusive strategies and differentiated outcomes.  Teachers use high-quality questioning, oracy and sentence stems to support learning.

The RE Curriculum is implemented in the following ways:

Children learn to understand, evaluate and interpret key beliefs and ideas through listening and responding to religious stories in sacred texts

Children learn to compare religious ideas and concepts, through discussion and debate, articulating their own beliefs, ideas, values and experiences and demonstrating respect for differences in the beliefs of other religions.

Children learn to make links and be curious about different religions. They have opportunities to handle artefacts and respond to images and stories through art, music and dance.

Children have opportunities to share their feelings and ideas and to appreciate the importance of maintaining positive relationships with others regardless of religion

Children have opportunities to talk to visitors from different faiths and to make visits to places of worship in the local environment.

Children take part in and attend assemblies where they explore how different religions celebrate important events.

Children have opportunities to reflect quietly together.

Revised November 2025

What have pupils learnt in RE?

The impact of our curriculum is that by the end of each milestone, the vast majority of children have sustained mastery of the content, that is, they remember it all and are fluent in it.  Our assessment practises ensure that teachers and children assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson/series of lessons and, in Key Stage 1, reflect on their knowledge and understanding of the termly key questions.

This means that by the end of Early Years, most children will be able to know some of the similarities and differences between different religions in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been discussed in class.

In Key Stage 1 most children will develop a secure knowledge of our key RE concepts which develops into a deeper understanding of how to think for themselves, ask significant questions (see below), evaluate ideas and work constructively with others by the end of Year 2.

Our expectations are that by the end of Year 1 most children will be able to respond to the following questions

• What do stories from religious traditions teach about God?
• What can we learn from other stories?
• How are stories and celebrations linked?
• What do creation stories teach people about God and human nature?
• What do people learn from stories and festivals?

By the end of Year 2 most children will be able to respond to the following questions

• What are sacred texts and why do they matter?
• What is a religion? What is a worldview?
• What beliefs, values and practices are important in religions and worldviews?

Revised November 2025

Opportunities for the future

We ensure our children are made aware of how the skills they obtain through Religious Education (such as, compassion, empathetic, reflection, questioning, critical thinking) can assist them in a range of occupations including charity worker, advice worker, mediator, solicitor, youth worker, archivist, equality, diversity and inclusion officer, editorial assistant, researcher and teacher.

Curriculum drivers

Possibilities:

Children will learn about the experiences of people of faith through visits from religious leaders and through sharing experiences of staff and families within the school.

Environment:

As part of learning in and from our environment we will focus on visits to places of worship and where community celebrations take place.  We will reflect on how having a religious perspective helps us to consider what we need to do to look after our world and show respect and compassion for others.

 Diversity:

Through teaching RE we start with children’s experiences of belief and faith and expose them to other religions.  We do this by encouraging visits to various celebrations across the city.

Revised November 2025

RE Medium Term Plan

Religious Education Progression

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