Religious Education
The Intent statement of our Religious Education curriculum is:
To equip children with the ability to understand the faith or belief of individuals and communities and how these may shape their culture or behaviour.
At Birkbeck Primary school, we believe that the above is an invaluable asset for children in modern day Britain. In line with Bexley Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, R.E. lessons will provoke challenging questions about meaning and purpose in life, beliefs about God, ultimate reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. We follow the 2021 Bexley Agreed Syllabus for RE, which incorporates study of the Christian faith as well as other main faiths. We will encourage pupils to learn about religious and non-religious worldviews in order to discover, explore and consider different answers to these questions. They will learn to interpret, analyse, evaluate and critically respond to the claims that religious and non-religious worldviews make. Pupils will learn to express their insights and to agree or disagree respectfully.
RE explores big questions about life, in order to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can make sense of religion and worldviews, and reflect on their own ideas and ways of living. Pupils make best sense of this when they develop their understanding of concepts that recur throughout the curriculum at strategic points. The Bexley agreed syllabus allows this to happen through revisiting key threads such as:
- Holy scripture
- Beliefs and faith
- Practices and traditions
- Reflection and tolerance
- Sacred places and festivals
By continually revisiting these threads of concept, children are able to build an understanding of new content in the context of existing knowledge they have, as such, they see the interconnections between different religions and situations.
It is our aim to provide a clear framework of shared spiritual and moral values both inside and outside of school. We follow the 2021 Bexley Agreed Syllabus for RE, which incorporates study of the Christian faith as well as other main faiths.
Although the teaching of RE is compulsory, The Education Act allows parents with other faiths the right to withdraw their children from RE lessons and from assemblies. Parents are asked to contact the Head Teacher in this regard and appropriate arrangements will be made to support the circumstances of each request.
Our curriculum coverage posters provide information about which units are taught in which year groups and the order in which they are taught. You can view the RE one below:
Below, you will find a link to the Bexley Agreed syllabus:
bexley agreed syllabus 2021 26.pdf
You can view the specific content of each unit of work by requesting this at deputy@birkbeck.bexley.sch.uk
Lesson delivery
Every Religious Education lesson begins with a retrieval practice starter which has the aim of activating prior knowledge around the concept thread which the lesson to come is focused on.
Every lesson also includes clarification of any technical vocabulary to be used in the lesson. This always takes place before the main lesson content begins.
All Religious Education lessons are delivered in line with our principles of teaching and learning which are the same for all subjects. These are the principles that we believe underpin truly great teaching and learning. You can read about how these are applied to Religious Education lessons below. The Implementation guide also provides the curriculum map which tells you which units of work are taught in which terms of which year group.
birkbeck primary school re implementation guide.pdf
Assessment
We assess RE once per term or half term where applicable. Teachers assess children's body of work against a set of descriptors which are provided within the Bexley agreed syllabus. These descriptors match the threads of concept that our RE curriculum is designed by. As such, the curriculum is the model for progression that we follow and assess against. Assessment is reported to parents and carers every term at parents evening.
