Intent             

At Rounds Green Primary School, we follow the agreed Sandwell SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education). We believe that Religious Education is vital for all of our pupils to learn about different religions to prepare them for the world around them. Pupils develop their knowledge of world faiths, and their understanding and awareness of different beliefs, values and traditions. We encourage our children to ask questions about the world, discuss and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences within lessons. We strive to provide a breadth of knowledge, prepare children for those puzzling questions and to heighten their empathy skills. RE activities are planned to be thought provoking and engaging so that children gain in depth knowledge to enable them to be good citizens in society, within this we encourage our children to share their own beliefs and values alongside celebrating their own customs and traditions. Our purpose is to deliver these opportunities in engaging and challenging ways but to also embrace similarities and differences. We aim to provide opportunities for children to visit different places of worship in our community, where possible.

Implementation       

Teachers use the SACRE document to plan effective RE lessons. RE is taught in all year groups across the school, it is allocated 45mins – 1 hour per week. The units for the curriculum is outlined in the RE Overview document. Each unit will build on the children’s prior learning. Each year group has specific units to cover and we ensure that all children learn about a variety of religions to provide them with the knowledge required to support them in the world around them. At Rounds Green, we cover principal religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. We also focus on non-religious beliefs in Years 3. Our overall approach to teaching RE is based upon respect. We understand that as adults or children we don not all hold the same beliefs or opinions, however, it is about being open-minded, being sensitive to each other and understanding we are all different. We teach the children through reading well known stories, fables and faith texts. To enhance children’s learning, we draw upon the children’s own experiences of religion. Across the year, assemblies are linked to different religions and their customs, traditions and festivals.

Impact

The teaching of RE supports our vision as we hope that by providing the children with the opportunity to celebrate themselves and equip them with a wealth of knowledge, skills and understanding it will have a positive impact in all areas of their learning. Our children will have a good understanding of all key religions pertinent to Sandwell. They will be able to understand and talk about these as respectful citizens in society. RE provides the children with the opportunity of interpreting, understanding, making connections, exploring and reflecting. We aim to feed and develop a child’s curiosity, which is one of our school virtues.

Our children will have developed a good understanding of our British Values and this will help to support them as they move onto their next steps/stages in life.