Intent

At Helmdon Primary School RE is taught in accordance with the approved Northamptonshire Agreed Syllabus with the Jigsaw RE programme used as our scheme of work.  

By following Jigsaw RE at Helmdon school we intend that Religious Education will:

• adopt an enquiry based approach as recommended by Ofsted, beginning with the children’s own life experience before moving into learning about and from religion.
• provoke challenging questions about the meaning and purpose of life, beliefs, the self, and issues of right and wrong, commitment and belonging. It develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, and religious traditions that examine these questions, fostering personal reflection and spiritual development.
• encourage pupils to explore their own beliefs (religious or non-religious), in the light of what they learn, as they examine issues of religious belief and faith and how these impact on personal, institutional and social ethics; and to express their responses.
• enable pupils to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society.
• teach pupils to develop respect for others, including people with different faiths and beliefs, and helps to challenge prejudice.

• prompt pupils to consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others, and to explore how they might contribute to their communities and to wider society. It encourages empathy, generosity and compassion.

• develop a sense of awe, wonder and mystery.
• nurture children’s own spiritual development.

Implementation

The following religions are studied:

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, along with an introduction to the Humanism worldview. Christianity plus one other religion is taught in each year group, with one additional religion taught in Year 5 and an introduction to Humanism in Year 6.

RE teaching brings together learning about and from religion, questioning and spiritual development. Teaching strategies are varied and are mindful of the need for adaptive teaching, ensuring that all children can access and participate. Each enquiry starts from the children’s own life experiences using these as a bridge into the investigation of the religion being studied. Interactive, practical activities encourage the children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions.

RE is taught weekly in every class as a discrete subject. British values are integral to RE teaching but are also brought into all aspects of school life, including assembly times.

Impact

The children at Helmdon Primary School enjoy learning about other religions and why people choose or choose not to follow a religion. Through their RE learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and the wider world, developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life. As such, RE is invaluable in an ever changing and shrinking world.

Children’s progress in RE is assessed in two areas:

Learning about religion and belief - Enquiring into, investigating and understanding religions and beliefs. This includes thinking about and interpreting religious beliefs, teachings, sources, practices, ways of life and ways of expressing meaning with reference to the specific beliefs and religions studied.

Learning from religion and belief - Questioning, exploring, reflecting upon and interpreting human experience in the light of religions and beliefs studied. This includes communicating reflections, responses and evaluations about questions of identity, belonging, diversity, meaning, purpose, truth, values and commitments, making increasingly insightful links to the specific religions studied.