Religious Education

 “The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, forgiveness.” – Dalai Lama

Religious Education at Washingborough Academy

Intent

The intention of Religious Education at Washingborough Academy is to encourage enquiry-based learning, to promote our school values of respect, unity, patience, love, tolerance, care and humility and to inspire our children to develop a deepening knowledge and understanding of religious and non-religious world views. We aim to provide the children with opportunities to describe and explain religious beliefs and to know how these beliefs impact individuals, communities and societies.

We would like the children to gain the skills that enable them to question their learning and to have opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development. We feel it is vitally important to give the children the experience of visiting religious places of worship and to invite people from different religions and cultures to visit our school.

It is crucial that the children understand that not everyone has the same beliefs or views and so everybody should be respectful of others. Through our Religious Education lessons the children will also be able to challenge prejudice, discrimination and racism.

Implementation

At Washingborough Academy, Religious Education is taught over a two-year cycle and by following the Lincolnshire Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education. The children at each key stage will build their Religious Education skills in the following areas:

  • Investigation and enquiry: asking relevant and increasingly deep questions; using a range of sources and evidence, including sacred texts; identifying and talking about key concepts.
  • Critical thinking and reflection: analysing information to form a judgement; reflecting on beliefs and practices, ultimate questions and experiences.
  • Empathy: considering the thoughts, feelings, experiences, attitudes, beliefs and values of others; seeing the world through the eyes of others.
  • Interpretation: interpreting religious language and the meaning of sacred texts; drawing meaning from, for example, artefacts and symbols.
  • Analysis: distinguishing between opinion, belief and fact; distinguishing between the features of different religions.
  • Evaluation: enquiring into religious issues and drawing conclusions.

During our two-year cycle, each key stage will explore the following questions within the religion of Christianity and in other religions such as Hinduism or Islam and by doing so, the children will further their understanding of each religion’s key concepts:

  • God: What do people believe about God?
  • Being human: How does faith and belief affect the way people live their lives?
  • Community, worship and celebration: How do people express their religion and beliefs?
  • Life journey, rites of passage: How do people mark important events in life?

A further two units from the Lincolnshire Locally Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education are taught during the two-year cycle in each key stage.

We aim to study the following units of learning:

  • Key Stage One: Places of worship and Thankfulness
  • Lower Key Stage Two: An in-depth study of a different religion – Sikhism and ‘Big Questions’ are explored such as ‘Who am I?’, ‘What is a good life?’, ‘Does God exist?’ and ‘Is there life after death?’. The Big Questions must be answered through studying at least two other religions other than Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.
  • Upper Key Stage Two: An in-depth study of a different religion – Buddhism and ‘Expressing belief through the Arts.’

Impact

The impact of our Religious Education curriculum is measured in a variety of ways:

  • Discussions with the children in lessons
  • Targeted questions during lessons
  • Marking and feedback given to the children
  • Pupil’s voice
  • Learning walks
  • Book looks
  • Termly assessment

By the time children leave Washingborough Academy they will:

  • Have a wide knowledge and understanding of different religions and cultures
  • Ask and answer challenging questions and know that not all questions will have answers
  • Be respectful and tolerant of all faiths and beliefs
  • Be able to reflect upon their own beliefs
  • Become aware of theirs and others cultural heritage
  • Make a positive and helpful contribution to their own community

“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the perfect present for the test of our civilisation.” – Mahatma Ghandi