Intent

At Tackley CE Primary School, we consider that Religious Education has never been more relevant to our children with religion & religious issues being in the news, daily. RE plays a vital role in helping our pupils to be able to understand our constantly changing world. We strive that our pupils are given valuable insights, in an age appropriate way, into the diverse beliefs and opinions held by people today.

RE has a significant role with the personal development of each pupil and supports an understanding of the spiritual, moral, social & cultural questions that surface again and again in their lives. In tackling difficult questions, RE provides pupils with insight that can work to challenge stereotypes and promote community cohesion.

We believe RE promotes respect, tolerance and open-mindedness towards others with the same and different, faiths and beliefs. It also encourages our pupils to develop their sense of identity, value themselves and the community within which they live.

The way that we teach RE is to engage pupils in an enquiry approach where they can develop an understanding and appreciation for the expression of beliefs, cultural practices and influence of principle religions and world views in the local, national and wider global community.

Implementation

• We follow Challenging RE - The Oxfordshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2023
• Teaching and learning is based around a cycle of enquiry approach and through this the children are encouraged to participate in critical thinking.
• Each unit of learning is underpinned by a key concept and this drives the learning that follows. RE lessons provide the opportunity for reflection, discussion, dialogue and debate and promote the development of positive values and attitudes.
• Lessons are planned and delivered in a variety of ways ensuring that all children can access and participate in lessons. Interactive, practical activities encourage the children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions.
• As the children journey through the school, they will encounter the teaching of key concepts and practices within our principle religion Christianity as well as Hinduism, Judaism and Islam.
• By revisiting concepts, pupils are able to retrieve and deepen their knowledge and understand the key concepts and practices set down in the agreed syllabus and Discovery RE.
• Pupils are encouraged to explore and to ask ‘big questions’ about life, religion, nature, science and any other area of fascination, developing their own spirituality.
• Pupils’ progress in RE is based on the expected outcomes outlined in the Agreed Syllabus whilst also bearing in mind that the statements do not cover all aspects of teaching and learning in RE. For example, pupil’s personal views and ideas are not subject to formal assessment, and yet are central to good progress in RE.
• Progress in RE is reported annually to parents.

At Tackley CE Primary School, the RE curriculum impacts the pupils in the following ways:

• It enables pupils, in an age appropriate way, to give an informed and thoughtful account of Christianity as a living and diverse faith.
• It extends their knowledge and understanding of a wide range of religions and world views
• Our approach and style of teaching RE builds up pupils encounters with key religious concepts so that pupils can place them within their wider growing understanding of the world around them.
• Pupils are able to show respectful attitudes to religions and world views in their search for understanding and / or meaning and reflect critically and responsibly on their own spiritual, philosophical and ethical convictions.
• Pupils gain a wider appreciation of the diverse world within which we live developing and refining their enquiry skills, as they are increasingly asked to think more critically.

We aim for our Religious Education curriculum to:

• to develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other principal religious traditions represented in Great Britain.
• to have knowledge of a range of Christian stories from the bible
• to develop understanding of what it might mean to be committed to a religious tradition.
• to reflect on their own experiences, beliefs and values.
• to have confidence in their own viewpoint whilst engaging in open and honest enquiry
• to respect the rights of others to hold beliefs different to their own
• view religion as a joyous experience to be celebrated with music, movement and drama – a living activity in a cross curricular context
• to aspire to be responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society

The children make regular visits to Tackley Parish Church for special events in the church calendar, and liturgical teaching.

These visits take place four times per year and include the major Christian festivals of Harvest, Christmas and Easter. We celebrate a variety of religious events across the school, including Christmas, Easter and Diwali.

Parents have the right to withdraw their child from RE lessons or parts of it and should talk to the Headteacher if this is their intention. Whilst we respect this right, we hope parents can see our curriculum does not promote or encourage a certain set of beliefs and contributes to children’s development in many valuable ways.