Religious Education at Newlands Primary School

                                         Intent

Children will be given specific opportunities to investigate and develop their own understanding of the fundamental ‘big ideas’ of life. RE at Newlands Primary School promotes a positive learning environment, which reflects our core learning values. Following ‘Living Difference IV’ (the agreed syllabus from Hampshire), children will learn about the values and beliefs of other people, from a variety of cultures and religions. They will be encouraged to communicate their own understanding and respectfully engage in discussion and debate with their peers. All children will have opportunities to reflect upon different interpretations of these ‘big ideas’ and will begin to think about their place within our world and encouraged to make positive contributions to it, as a global citizen.

Our aims:

• To provide opportunities for all pupils to think about universal dilemmas (eg. What is the meaning of life? Whilst evil exists, can a god exist?).
• To develop pupil’s knowledge and understanding of fundamental ‘big ideas’ (see right).
• To widen our pupil’s knowledge of Christianity, and other principle world religions.
• To encourage pupils to develop their own sense of identity and belonging, as a global citizen.
• To provide a safe environment where all children can provoke, challenge and respectfully disagree.
• To provide opportunities for pupils to practise, and further develop, their Spoken Language skills.

Implementation

In line with ‘Living Difference III’, all RE units are concept led. All concepts are categorised in line with the document (see diagram on right). Some concepts are repeated throughout the  Newlands journey because children will be encouraged to revisit these ‘big ideas’, through the lens of different religions and cultures. From Year 1 through to Year 6, there is a clear progression in concepts, where all pupils will engage with all types of concepts to ensure a smoother transition into secondary school.

Concepts are easy to find. They are on all the MTP, as well as the Planning Cycles (examples right and left). They should be shared with the children and become the driving force behind the RE learning and teaching.