Religious Education
Intent
Our overall intention is to nurture and develop our six qualities of learning which enable all children to shine…for life! We nurture and encourage creative, kind and resilient learners who are reflective, inquisitive and determined in all they do. Our intention is for learners at St Levan to know more and remember more in Religious Education through enquiry, becoming aware of and respecting the beliefs of others and reflecting on their own beliefs.
To think respectfully about religion, learners at St Levan focus on our three subject specific characteristics which are:
Enquiry
I enquire about different religions
Beliefs
I am aware of, and respect the beliefs of others
Reflection
I can reflect on my own beliefs
These three characteristics are woven throughout our Religious Education curriculum and are built upon as children progress through the school. This ensures that children acquire the skills and knowledge they need to succeed, expressed in concepts and language with which they have already become familiar.
Implementation
We provide an engaging, characterful and balanced curriculum for all.
Our inclusive curriculum is carefully planned to allow for progress for all pupils in our two mixed age classes. We recognise the challenges of teaching a progression within a subject to a mixed age class and, having undertaken our own research and consulted subject specialists and organisations, developed our own pedagogy and created what we believe is the best fit for our setting. With a commitment to the removal of barriers to learning and participation, we offer high quality teaching and appropriate differentiation to meet the needs of all. Using our rolling programme (see our Curriculum Offer page), we teach Religious Education through termly topics and focus on investigating, reflecting, expressing, interpreting, empathising, applying, discerning, analysing, synthesising and evaluating.
Please find below Religious Education Curriculum Progression documents as well as how we adapt our curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with SEND:
We interconnect learning opportunities with an enriched environment to promote a love of learning and the outdoors.
To allow for an engaging, characterful and balanced curriculum, Religious Education at St Levan incorporates trips to nearby places of worship as well as visits from a local vicar and people of different faiths.
Assessment
At St Levan, we use assessment in three different ways across all subjects.
Assessment for learning (AfL)
This assessment is formative, ongoing and informs classroom practice and future planning. Through careful observation, listening and questioning, teachers glean what learners know and can do and plan next steps accordingly. For example, in Religious Education, pupils may observe how someone puts their religious beliefs into practice, a next step may be to consider that people from the same religion may show their beliefs in different ways.
Assessment as learning (AaL)
This assessment is about how pupils self-regulate their own learning and develop metacognitive skills. Through structured peer and self-assessment activities, pupils understand their own needs as a learner and reflect on their own next steps. By taking ownership of their own learning, this can help pupils to know more and remember more. For example, in Religious Education, pupils may self-assess against their WALTs and WILFs and highlight what they can do or do something similar against specific design criteria during evaluation.
Assessment of learning (AoL)
This assessment is summative, at the end of a topic and, in Religious Education, pupils complete different tasks to elicit their level of understanding. For examples, in KS2, pupils were recently asked to consider how celebrations and rituals from their own lives may have similarities to celebrations help by people of Jewish faith.
Impact
By the end of KS2, we aim for pupils to be able to identify and explain the core beliefs and concepts studied, using examples from texts/sources of authority in religions. Describe examples of ways in which people use texts/sources of authority to make sense of core beliefs and concepts. Give meanings for texts/sources of authority studied, comparing these ideas with some ways in which believers interpret texts/sources of authority. Make clear connections between what people believe and how they live, individually and in communities. Using evidence and examples, show how and why people put their beliefs into practice in different ways, e.g. in different communities, denominations or cultures. Make connections between the beliefs and practices studied, evaluating and explaining their importance to different people. Reflect on and articulate lessons people might gain from the beliefs/ practices studied, including their own responses, recognising that others may think differently. Consider and weigh up how ideas studied in this unit relate to their own experiences and experiences of the world today, developing insights of their own and giving good reasons for the views they have and the connections they make. (Cornwall Agreed Syllabus)
Our Religious Education Curriculum is planned to enable progression and build on and embed current skills working towards the expected Cornwall Agreed Syllabus outcomes. Our termly assessments in Religious Education enable us to identify gaps and trends in the curriculum and pupil attainment. We also measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: pupil discussions and interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice), photo, recording and video evidence of the pupils' practical learning.