St Nicolas RE

Intent

Our R.E. curriculum is purposefully designed to ensure that the children leave St Nicolas Church of England Academy with a clear and coherent understanding of the main teachings of Christianity as well as an understanding of and an appreciation for other religious and world views. 

Our curriculum aims to establish an environment for encountering and enquiring about religious and non-religious world views whilst exploring the diversity of belief held within them. 

Our intention is for children to flourish in R.E. by providing opportunities for them to reflect upon their own experiences as unique individuals as well as considering the views of others. 

As a Church of England school, we place a high importance upon the value of respect, which ripples throughout our curriculum and in R.E. in particular. 

We strive to ensure that our children are enabled to become compassionate and knowledgeable learners, who are empowered to become courageous advocates and the change makers of the future.

Implementation

R.E. is taught discreetly through a series of weekly sessions that last at least an hour.  We cover objectives set out in the local syllabus produced by Coventry and Warwickshire Local Authorities (SACRE).

Supported by the scheme of Understanding Christianity, our Christianity lessons have a theological core which encourages children to explore, reflect upon and sensitively question biblical teachings.  Each Understanding Christianity unit also allows the children to understand the impact of the text upon adherents and to make connections to their own experiences and to the beliefs of others around the world. 

In this way children are also encouraged to use philosophical thinking as well as applying the lens of human and social science to viewing how modern Christians live their lives.  The spiral curriculum for Christianity follows the core concepts of: God, Creation, Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and Kingdom of God.

The SACRE units enable children to engage with other religious and non-religious world views and beliefs.  Lessons provide opportunities for children to explore where beliefs may have come from, how they may have changed over time and to explore the diversity of expression of adherents.

Each sequence of learning allows children to study in a variety of ways, including using: Holy / Sacred texts, artefacts, visits and visitors, artwork and audio and visual resources, including VR goggles.

Impact 

Assessment for learning strategies including retrieval questioning enable teachers to identify the strength of understanding of the children. Adaptations to subsequent planning will follow suit to meet the needs of all children and end of unit summative assessments are completed. 

Following this progressive curriculum ensures the children become reflective citizens who will have had the opportunity to be introduced to religious and non-religious world views as well as time to develop their own sense of belief and belonging.