Religious Education

Religious Education Leader: Miss A White

Vision

At the heart of our Religious Education curriculum are our six 'Shine Bright Values,' which underpin all aspects of our school community. Our Religious Education curriculum is deeply rooted in our commitment to cultivate a learning environment where every child is empowered to thrive and develop a profound understanding and respect for diverse religions and worldviews.

Religious Education  

The Believing and Belonging Locally Agreed Syllabus (2024–2029) is designed for schools in Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees, and Calderdale. It provides a clear and structured framework for teaching Religious Education from Early Years to the end of Key Stage 2. The syllabus encourages pupils to explore a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, ask big questions about life and belief, and develop respect, empathy, and understanding for others. Through its three key strands—Believing, Expressing, and Living—the syllabus helps children understand how faith and belief shape lives, communities, and cultures, while also supporting personal reflection and moral development. 

Vision 

Our Vision 
Our vision is to nurture young thinkers of faith, belief, and values who embody these qualities—aspirational in their spiritual and moral goals, adventurous in exploring questions of meaning and purpose, creative in expressing their ideas and beliefs, resilient in grappling with life’s big questions, respectful of diverse worldviews, and independent in developing their own sense of identity and belief. Through this, we equip our pupils with the knowledge, understanding, and attitudes necessary to thrive in a diverse society and make a meaningful contribution to the world. 

Aspirational: We inspire our pupils to aim high in their religious education, encouraging them to explore big questions about life, faith, and belief. By fostering a mind-set of continuous growth and reflection, we empower them to develop a sense of purpose and moral direction. 

Adventurous: Religious education is a journey of discovery, and we encourage our pupils to approach it with curiosity and courage. Through exploring different religions, beliefs, and traditions, they develop open-mindedness and a willingness to engage with ideas beyond their own experience. 

Creative: Religious education invites creative thinking and expression. We support our pupils in expressing their understanding of beliefs and values through discussion, writing, art, drama, and reflection. They are encouraged to find imaginative ways of making sense of complex and profound ideas. 

Resilient: Grappling with questions of faith, morality, and existence can be challenging. We teach our pupils to persevere when exploring difficult or sensitive issues, helping them to respect differences and refine their own thinking with maturity and sensitivity. 

Respectful: At the heart of RE is respect—for faiths, beliefs, cultures, and the diversity of human experience. Our pupils learn to listen attentively, engage thoughtfully, and respond with kindness and empathy to different perspectives. They value dialogue and appreciate how beliefs shape the lives of individuals and communities. 

Independent: We empower our pupils to form their own thoughtful opinions and beliefs. By developing skills of reflection, critical thinking, and self-awareness, they gain the confidence to ask meaningful questions, explore their own values, and make responsible choices about how they live their lives. 

Children working on the EYFS and KS1 curriculum will be learning from a three-year cycle, whereas children in KS2 will be learning from a four-year cycle. 

Implementation

Long Term Plans:

Welcome to the Religious Education at Holme Junior and Infant School, where our long-term overviews have been planned to bring the richness and diversity of global faiths, beliefs, and worldviews to every child. Through this journey, we aim to nurture understanding, respect, and empathy, fostering a lifelong appreciation for the diverse religious and cultural landscape of our world. Long Term Plans can be found below.

Medium Term Plans:

Medium Term Plans are carefully sequenced and  between key phases to meet the structure of our complex mixed-age classes. Our six pathways are revisited throughout a child's school life, with substantive knowledge continually developed. Mapped out is the disciplinary knowledge amongst key phases to ensure that all outcomes from each lesson are age-appropriate and enhance the learning experience.

Based on the Kirklees RE Agreed Syllabus (2024-29) 'Believing and Belonging', our plans emphasise the six learning pathways outlined in the syllabus:

1. The Nature of Religion and Belief: Exploring the diversity and evolution of religious beliefs and practices, acknowledging the potential for debate and creative development.
2. Expressing Belief: Understanding the varied ways in which people convey their deepest beliefs, through both verbal and non-verbal forms such as art, music, and literature.
3. A Good Life: Investigating how religious and non-religious communities define moral behaviour and strive to live according to their understanding of a good life, including points of agreement and disagreement.
4. Personal Journey: Reflecting on the deeply felt experiences that shape individual beliefs and can transform lives, including the formation of new religions or worldviews.
5. Influence and Authority: Examining how religious and non-religious communities shape societies and cultures, influencing traditions, laws, values, and more.
6. The Big Picture: Addressing the grand narratives of religions and worldviews that seek to answer fundamental questions about the universe and humanity.

These pathways ensure a coherent and sequential learning experience, building a rich and profound knowledge of religions and worldviews. As your child engages in these lessons, they embark on a collaborative and empowering educational journey, building confidence, deepening understanding, and developing a genuine respect for the diversity of beliefs and practices around them.

What adjustments are made to ensure that learning is accessible to all pupils?

Planning identifies areas for support for all pupils with additional needs and differentiation of outcomes, resources and tasks are in place so that all pupils can meet the desired learning outcomes for the lesson and unit of work.  This supports our mixed age classes to ensure that challenge and support is present as part of their learning.

Impact

We measure  pupils' skills and knowledge against our own curriculum design, ensuring clarity in what and how pupils are learning on a day-to-day basis.

To measure the impact of our teaching and learning for each child, we focus on three key areas of assessment:

• Substantive Knowledge: What do they know and understand about religious education?
• Disciplinary Knowledge: What skills have they learned in exploring religious concepts and practices?
• Personal Knowledge: How has religious education shaped their personal views and expressions?

Each unit of work is developed through careful curriculum planning, allowing pupils to make progress through key stages of learning: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, and Creating.

As pupils advance through these stages, teachers conduct formative assessments to build a  picture of each pupil's progress.

At the end of each unit, teachers make a summative assessment based on these key stages. Our exemplar planning, supporting the syllabus, uses a mastery model including:

• Expected Standard: Pupils meeting the expected level of understanding and skill.
• Working Towards the Expected Standard: Pupils developing towards the expected level.
• Working Deeper Within the Expected Standard: Pupils exceeding the expected level with deeper understanding and skills.

This model helps in reporting progress and achievement to the next teacher or key stage and can be found in the  Kirklees RE Syllabus 2024 - 2029. This serves as a helpful tool in assessing progress and supporting teachers in developing learning objectives, ensuring that each sentence stem is applied to a specific task or knowledge content.

Through this structured approach, we ensure that every child at Holme Junior and Infant School experiences meaningful and impactful Religious Education, tailored to their individual learning journey.

Through this structured approach, we ensure that every child at Holme Junior and Infant School experiences meaningful and impactful Religious Education, tailored to their individual learning journey.