RE Curriculum Rationale

When re-organizing the RE curriculum for September 2019, we have taken an approach whereby the younger children in school gain a broader overview of key aspects of a variety of religions.  This gives the children an introduction to the various religions they will encounter in their communities, enabling them to begin to understand the belief systems, places of worship, symbols etc. they will be presented with in a contemporary society.

As the children progress through the KS1 and KS2 curriculum, their knowledge and understanding of the features of various religions will deepen, allowing them to compare and contrast different belief systems, places of worship, festivals, etc.  This will enable the children to relate more to a variety of faith systems and therefore be more aware and understanding of them and their followers.

The RE curriculum is split into 2 sections, the first three years of the school after reception class, where the children are introduced to the key aspects of a variety of religions before deepening their understanding through more details study in the second 3 years of school.

The curriculum has been planned with an emphases upon a range of religions, while stil focusing upon Christianity as a basis for comparing and contrasting though the termly topics.  This is achieved through each term having a key learning focus that will apply many faith systems, for example places of worship or important religious figures.

Throughout the RE curriculum, children will learn about different aspects of religious festivals set around Christmas and Easter, again taking a multi-faith approach whilst still being grounded in a basis of Christianity.

The religions that will be covered in the RE curriculum are as follows: