Intent

The principal aim of Religion and Worldviews is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.

We want our children to enjoy the Religion and Worldview curriculum and develop resilient responses to misunderstandings, stereotyping and division. We want to offer children a place where difficult or ‘risky’ questions can be tackled within a safe but challenging context. 

We aim to provide our children with religious literacy where they will develop their knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other religious traditions and world views and explore their responses to life's challenges. This gives pupils the knowledge and skills to flourish both within their own community and as members of a diverse and global society. We encourage our children to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We include and promote British Values, ensuring that children are aware of their rights and responsibilities as UK citizens and PSHE in promoting social awareness and understanding in our children.

We shall help our pupils prepare for their future by:

• Developing awareness of the fundamental questions raised by human experiences, and of how religious teachings can relate to them;
• Responding to such questions by referring to the teachings and practices of religions and other belief systems, relating them to their own understanding and experience;
• Reflecting on their own beliefs, values and experiences in the light of their study                                                                      

The curriculum for Religion and Worldviews aims to ensure that all pupils develop religious literacy through:

• Knowing about and understanding a range of religions and worldviews, learning to see these through the disciplines of Theology, Philosophy and Social Sciences
• Expressing ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religion and worldviews through a multidisciplinary approach whilst engaging critically with them
• Gaining and deploying skills taken from the disciplines of Theology, Philosophy and Social Sciences to enhance learning about religions and different worldviews

Our Religion and Worldviews curriculum at Bempton Primary School focuses on:

• What it means to get better at RE, across three types of knowledge: ‘substantive’ (content); ‘disciplinary’ (how pupils learn to learn in RE); and ‘personal’, which reflects a worldviews approach, thinking about where theirs and others’ ideas come from and what influences them.
• How content is sequenced to give pupils an overall conception of religion or non-religion, building on and developing prior learning. Sequencing is especially important when introducing sensitive or controversial issues. Starting with the similarities /common ground before introducing the differences and the controversy.
• Building pupils’ schemata within units and across their learning in RE, and (as teachers) being aware of how this develops within the RE curriculum.