Our Partnership of schools
LamertonChurch of England Academy
Religion and worldviews
Intent
The principal aim of RE at Lamerton is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living. Our vision of ‘Planting seeds of hope in our community, together we dream, believe and achieve’ is realised in our teaching of R.E. Our pupils enjoy learning about the stories that Jesus told us. We have chosen the parable of ‘The Sower’ to inspire and underpin our vision which runs through the heart of our school. We work to build a caring, inclusive community, in which we can all grow and flourish under God’s guidance.
The sower sowed his seeds in different types of ground. The path meant that the seed could be easily snatched by a bird. The rocky ground meant the roots could not grow deep. The thorny ground smothered and choked the plant but the seed sown in good ground, grew well and provided a plentiful crop. No matter the changes in temperature or weather, the good soil gives the seed exactly what it needs to grow, be healthy and have deep roots.
We strive to provide the good soil for all our children to flourish. We care for all our children and support them to care, learn and grow. We believe our purpose is to nurture and enable every one in our community to flourish as this will enable children to be the person they are fully capable of being. We articulate this as ‘Dream, Believe, Achieve’. We desire to aim high, with courage to dream.
Implementation
The Religious Education curriculum is led and overseen by the R.E. lead. A regular programme of monitoring, evaluation and review and the celebration of good practice will contribute to the ongoing commitment to evolve and improve further.
We follow the Devon Agreed teaching sequences, underpinned by the core concepts of Understanding Christianity. Teaching is through the exploration of a key question, and follows an enquiry-based approach.
We study Christianity and one other world religion every year: in KS1 this religion is Judaism; in KS2, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Sikhism.
There are four steps in teaching and learning:
- Engagement
- Investigation
- Evaluation
- Expression
By following these four steps, it promotes religious literacy by encouraging the children to gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions worldwide. Using balanced discussions about religions and beliefs, the children develop consideration in regards to belonging, believing and behaving.
Other ways in which we promote a broad religious education is by reading stories, using real life examples that are in the news and bringing children’s attention to celebrations and traditions from around the world. This will ensure that all children understand the British values alongside excepting others’ beliefs.
‘Understanding Christianity’ focusses on a small number of core concepts in order to enable a deeper understanding by pupils. It ensures coherence by selecting core concepts which reflect a view of biblical Christianity as following a salvation narrative. It uses a ‘spiral’ curriculum, where pupils revisit these core concepts in different contexts as they move through the school. These varied encounters deepen pupils’ understanding of the meaning of these concepts within the overall ‘big story’ of the Bible. It explores ways in which belief in the core concepts has an impact on the diverse Christian community and on the individual lives of Christians. It weaves in opportunities for pupils to reflect upon these ideas in relation to their understanding of religion and belief, including their own responses.
Impact
At Lamerton, we seek to ensure that all children in our school are educated to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally to enable them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world. Through their study of religion and world views, children will develop the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of a range of faiths and non-faith beliefs; they will recognise that these beliefs and practices are important to people and impact the way they live. Through this understanding, children will develop compassion and tolerance for the beliefs of others.
Our RE lead is: Melody Sterry