Subject leader: Mrs Perkins

Subject intent: 

At Northlands, we aim to teach our children about the wide range of different religions that are not only present in wider society but in our school. We are keen to ensure that pupils gain an insight to how different religions view the world and to develop a tolerance and understanding of how British society is made up of different beliefs. We aim to ensure that all children understand the privileged of being part of such a diverse and yet harmonious school and seek to ensure these values can be taken forward into their futures endeavours.

Subject implementation:

Each year group has an RE lesson every fortnight, following the SACRE scheme. Each year group a key question and relevant learning intentions for each lesson, encountering Christianity and other faiths, as part of their growing sense of self, their own community and their place within it. 

Pedagogical approach:

At Northlands we are aware that no two lessons are the same but in general we seek to ensure that our pedagogical approach to RE includes the same key factors. In RE lessons, we seek to promote reflection, empathy, comprehension, investigation, interpretation and analysis. In practice you may see children being asked to recall facts about people’s beliefs, ask questions, explain or share opinions as well as comparing and evaluating their own thoughts and feelings. Pupils will also have time to reflect on what they have previously learnt, linking it to events in their own lives: this is an important part of the development of their own viewpoints. Each learning unit within our RE curriculum allows children to engage and learn about how different people live which encompasses our school values of ‘one community, many cultures, achieving together’. Children will use a range of resources during lessons such as holy books, artefacts, artwork, audio and visual books as well as books and magazines.

Subject impact:

Our pupils come away with a broad understanding of different religions and they are able to explain how different faiths influence cultural practice. Northlands pupils become curious, tolerant and accepting about difference and are allowed time to contemplate their own thoughts, feelings and beliefs and contextualise them without our richly varied school community.