Religious Education
The Teaching and Learning of RE at St Mark’s Primary School
Our Intent
As a church school, children leave our school with a rich understanding of the Christian faith’s teachings and values. Children are encouraged to take part in reasoned discussions about the teachings of Christianity and other world faiths, comparing them to their own beliefs, whilst challenging each other to reflect on how religion shapes the world. Through the teaching of RE we also endeavour to develop within children a strong foundation of the Christian faith through knowledge and understanding of the key theological concepts that underpin Christian beliefs. This includes learning about and from The Bible, Old Testament characters, the life, teachings and actions of Jesus, Christian festivals, creation, wisdom, saints, liturgy, the local Church, the Christian community, rites of passage, living out the faith and values rooted in Christianity. Our aim is that such a focus contributes to our children’s spiritual and moral growth.
At St Mark’s School, we follow the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education’s curriculum plans (2024) adapting the plans to meet the needs of our learners. These plans teach children through three lenses, ‘Believing’ ‘Thinking’ and ‘Living’. We offer a rich and balanced curriculum, which encourages children to understand, explore and compare world religions, fostering a deep respect for all and value the diversity in God’s people. As a church school, two-thirds of our RE curriculum focusses on Christianity, while the other third focusses on World Religion and Non-Religious Worldviews.
Implementation - How we teach RE
At St Mark’s school, a wide range of teaching methods and ways of recording learning are used to enable all children to reach their potential by becoming religiously literate. As a core subject, high importance is placed on teaching children to use correct terminology and allowing children to develop as collaborative learners as well as independent thinkers. RE class teaching is enriched by visits to religious places of worship and our Chair of Governors, the vicar at our parish church - St Mark’s Church Kennington, plays an active role in the day-to-day life of the school. Teaching is also enhanced through the visits of local church leaders and other volunteers. Every year during the lead up to Easter, the whole school focuses on the significance of Easter during our RE week.
In addition to this:
- Every year group will learn about one other world faiths. Examples include: Islam, Judaism and Hinduism.
- Lessons will be brought to life using stories, events and characters to teach significant Christian teachings. Teachers are encouraged to use a variety of mediums in lessons. For example; hot seating, role play, story boarding, recounts, diary entries, experiences of children in the class, media and handling artefacts. There will be a focus on extended writing, with two pieces of work per term giving the children the opportunity to build on the skills they have been learning in English lessons.
- Children will have the opportunity to share their own views, thoughts, reflections and personal beliefs. The values and beliefs of children who follow a faith other than the Christian faith or who have no faith, will be valued and respected.
- The Anglican timetable is taken in to account, with units of work touching on Christmas, Easter, Lent, Epiphany, Harvest Festival and Pentecost. This compliments our Collective Worship Timetable and services held at our link church – St Mark’s in Kennington.
- In the Early Years classes, religious education is an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. As the reception class is part of the Foundation Stage of the National Curriculum, staff relate the religious education aspects of the children’s work to the objectives set out in the Early Learning Goals which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five – People, Culture and Communities. Additional RE topics covered throughout the year are outlined in the long-term plan and taught weekly within the reception classes.
- RE is taught weekly in every class. The minimum time given to the subject will be 45 minutes in KS 1 and 1 hour in KS 2. For one week in the year, there will be a specific focus on exploring aspects of RE, faith and belief in more detail and children will be able to explore RE themes in more depth. Each Year group completes six units of work, of varying length, to fit in with the Christian year.
- During their time at St Mark’s, pupils have the opportunity to participate in a number of RE related trips, visits and experiences. These include:
- Local church visits
- Visit to a mosque
- Visit and a talk from someone who practices a particular religion
- A Synagogue visit
- Mandir visit
- Buddhist Temple visit
- In school visits from parents to share religious beliefs
- A Gurdwara visit
- In school visit from an incumbent
- Handling of sacred texts and religious artefacts
Impact
How RE is assessed
The work in children’s books for the whole unit is used to guide teachers when assessing and moderating. When assessing, teachers refer to the three lenses, which have been taught throughout the unity, to objectively decide whether a child working within, below or above age-related expectations.
Assessment data is given to the RE coordinator who collates the data and analyses it. RE data is compared to writing levels as a guide when investigating whether children are working at, below or above their other levels in RE. The outcomes of the analysis will guide and influence future planning of aspirational outcomes for children each year group.
RE assessment
- ◦ Each child in your class needs to be assessed for each unit.
- ◦ The title page is where you mark off whether the children are meeting the three lenses, taught in each lesson.
- ◦ This information needs to be transferred on to Sonar tracker each term.
Aims of RE assessment
- To inform planning.
- Track gaps in subject knowledge of the children. ( eg. Non-Christian faiths, Old Testament, reflecting on own beliefs)
- To enable children to engage with RE on a deeper level.
- All three lenses should be targeted within each unit. Targets are pitched to your Key stage.
- Title pages should be used to track pupil’s progress through the unit in a formative manner, ticking off learning objectives. These title pages should support summative assessment at the end of the topic.
How to record evidence
Accompanying documents
