Our vision at St. Paul’s is to inspire the smallest seeds to flourish so that everyone can reach their full potential. Through our RE curriculum, we want our children to deepen their knowledge about religions by exploring and reflecting upon thought-provoking ‘big questions’. We encourage our children to express their own beliefs and opinions whilst discovering the views and traditions of other religious and non-religious practices within our world.
At St Paul’s Church of England School, we follow the Sunderland Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education:
The syllabus provides a coherent framework for setting high standards of learning in RE and enabling pupils to reach their potential in the subject. It builds on the good practice established in the previous Sunderland RE syllabus, and updates all requirements and guidance in line with all recent legislation and government guidance.
Our RE Curriculum:
Intent
At the heart of St. Pauls’ Church of England Primary School is the desire for all pupils, staff and the wider community to flourish and be able to live life to all its fullness. Central to Religious Education is the teaching of Christianity as a diverse and living faith focusing on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Religious Education has a high profile within the curriculum as it is intrinsic to the outworking of the school’s Christian ethos and vision. As in all subjects at St. Pauls’ Church of England Primary School, the core of our school curriculum is our STAR Curriculum drivers: Success, The World, Aspiration and Resilience. Through the teaching and learning of Religious Education the curriculum provides opportunities to enable pupils to explore key concepts and questions ensuring a rich, deep knowledge of Christians beliefs and practices and that of other religions and world views. Pupils will gain knowledge and understanding of a range of religions and worldviews appreciating continuity, diversity and change within the religions being studied.
Our ambitious, enquiry-based curriculum aims to encourage pupils to ask meaningful questions, be analytical thinkers, interpret texts for evaluation, recognise different viewpoints between and within religions and personally reflect upon religions studied. The Religious Education curriculum creates a safe space for pupils to explore their own religious, spiritual and/or philosophical ways of believing, seeing and belonging. The Religious Education curriculum contributes to British values and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils have the opportunity to engage in informed and meaningful dialogue where all viewpoints are listened to, discussed and respected whilst always holding our core Christian beliefs and values at the forefront of our school. As pupils develop their ‘voice’ they are encouraged to engage with challenging questions of purpose and meaning raised by human existence and experience.
Implementation
To implement our intent, we follow the new Sunderland Agreed RE Syllabus which uses the Understanding Christianity scheme of work to support the teaching of Christianity. The new Agreed Syllabus has been adapted to ensure it meets the needs of our pupils and supports the context of our school. Furthermore, we aim to enrich the teaching of RE through other curriculum areas such as; Prayer Spaces, visits to places of worship, our close link with St Paul’s Church and Spirited Arts.
A new Local Authority Syllabus was introduced across Sunderland Autumn Term 2021 - RE Syllabus 2021-2026.pdf
Please see below Whole School RE overview.
Please see below examples of RE curriculum units. The full RE curriculum is available in school and available to see upon request.
Impact:
At St Paul’s teachers plan stimulating lessons using the Sunderland Agreed Syllabus. By exploring a range of diverse religious traditions alongside non-religious worldviews, we ensure that all pupils develop their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. We develop pupils’ confidence for sharing their views and opinions whilst treating religious beliefs differing to their own with integrity and respect.
Please see below, our reading spine for RE:
Assessment
Flexible assessment opportunities are tailored, based on end-of-phase outcomes which is linked to the teaching and learning approach in each unit. Each unit has specific outcomes that help pupils to achieve the end-of-phase outcomes.
Early Years
Although RE is non-statutory in nursery, at St Paul's we believe that all children across school should encounter religious and non-religious worldviews. We do this with the guidance from the Sunderland Agreed Syllabus through special people, books, times, places and objects and by visiting places of worship. Our children listen to and talk about stories and are introduced to subject-specific words whilst using all their senses to explore beliefs, practices and forms of expression. They ask questions and reflect on their own feelings and experiences. They use their imagination and curiosity to develop their appreciation of, and wonder at, the world in which they live.
RE Ambassadors
Our RE ambassadors were selected in each class due to their interest and enthusiasm in the subject. Our ambassadors meet with the RE Co-ordinator to share and give updates as to what is being taught and learned in each year group. We enjoy listening to each other and discussing the interesting facts we have discovered in our recent learning.
Awards
We are currently in the process of being assessed for the RE Quality Mark from the Religious Education Council for England and Wales.