Anston Park Junior School

Religious Education

Subject leader - Mrs Corbiere 

RE Policy

Purpose of Study from the National Curriculum

Anston Park Junior School's ethos is founded on teaching values and in particular recognises the uniqueness and worth of each individual member of the school, both children and adults alike.

With this in mind the aim of the school is to encourage children to reflect this by learning to understand and respect the various beliefs, traditions and practices of others, both within the school and wider community. Our purpose is to ensure that pupils leave us with a maturing understanding of the experiences and values of others and a growing sense of identity based on personal values and self-worth with the community.

Aims of the National Curriculum

The national curriculum for Religious Education aims to ensure that:

• Teaching promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural mental and physical development of pupils. 
• Prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

Key Stage Two 

In KS2 pupils should be taught:

• To discover religion: investigating religions and world views through varied experiences and disciplines, gathering a rich knowledge of many religions and worldviews.
• To develop their own views reflecting on and expressing ideas and the ideas of others with increasing knowledge, creativity and clarity.
• To be reasonable about religions becoming increasingly able to be reasonable in their responses to religions and world vies, using their skills of rationality and argument.

RE curriculum Vision

At Anston Park Junior School we follow Rotherham SACRE using the Jigsaw scheme of learning to support.

Jigsaw RE is an enquiry-based scheme of work, covering the principal world faiths and humanism in a progressive way from Year 3 to Year 6. Throughout all the enquiries, the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is carefully considered.

Each enquiry lasts for half a term and begins with a “big” question such as “What is the best way for a Christian/Muslim etc. to show commitment to God?” The children then start discussing the theme of the enquiry (in this case, commitment) from their own experience. What have they shown commitment to? Brownies? Cubs? Their sporting team? Playing an instrument?

Only when the children fully understand the concept they are considering, do they then move on to investigating what the people following the studied religion or worldview believe about it. They will spend approximately 3 lessons on this, learning in a variety of ways, so they can adapt their responses and come to a measured conclusion. In week 5 they will complete an activity which can assess their learning, by answering their “big” question. The assessment activities are child friendly and can be answered in a variety of ways, as long as the child can justify their view with the knowledge they have gained throughout the enquiry. This demonstrates the level of critical thinking that the children can apply – a valuable skill for them throughout the school curriculum.

The final week in every enquiry gives the children time to reflect on what they have learnt about the concept and apply to it their own lives, thus allowing them to form their own beliefs and identity. For example, learning that Sikhs share their food with all who attend has taught me ……… about sharing that I would like to take forward with me. These lessons are often very creative and children have opportunities to make items to express themselves in ways other than just writing.

Jigsaw RE gives schools a choice of which religions to teach in different year groups. At Anston Park Junior School we have chosen the following options as we feel this best suits the needs of our children and fits with our syllabus.

The aims of our RE, using the Jigsaw RE Scheme of Work

Jigsaw RE meets the requirements of our locally agreed syllabus and is aligned to the non- statutory guidance described above. 

By following Jigsaw RE at Anston Park Junior School we intend that Religious Education will:-

• adopt an enquiry- based approach as recommended by Ofsted, beginning with the children’s own life experience before moving into learning about and from religion.
• provoke challenging questions about the meaning and purpose of life, beliefs, the self, and issues of right and wrong, commitment and belonging. It develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, and religious traditions that examine these questions, fostering personal reflection and spiritual development.
• encourage pupils to explore their own beliefs (religious or non-religious), in the light of what they learn, as they examine issues of religious belief and faith and how these impact on personal, institutional and social ethics; and to express their responses.
• enable pupils to build their sense of identity and belonging, which helps them flourish within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society.
• teach pupils to develop respect for others, including people with different faiths and beliefs, and helps to challenge prejudice.

• prompt pupils to consider their responsibilities to themselves and to others, and to explore how they might contribute to their communities and to wider society. It encourages empathy, generosity and compassion.

• develop a sense of awe, wonder and mystery.
• nurture children’s own spiritual development.

Long term curriculum map 

Below is a copy and a link to our RE long term curriculum map. This will let you know what units are being covered over the year.

Year 3:

Year 4:

Year 5:

Year 6: