Religious Education (RE)

Our intent:

At South End Junior, we believe that Religious Education plays an important role within the curriculum. It promotes spiritual, moral, cultural and mental health development, preparing learners for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life, and helping them to become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens. Children will be introduced to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Humanism throughout their time with us. Children will be encouraged to explore religious origins, main beliefs, key vocabulary, festivals of importance, religious texts and symbols before learning how to compare, contrast and develop respectful opinions of them. We allow children to be active, thoughtful, reflective and expressive in their handling of questions about beliefs, religion, spirituality and values. We aim to include elements of enquiry, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and reflection within our lessons whilst ensuring children understand the importance of showing tolerance and understanding the diverse nature of our world. We work closely with our local communities and welcome visitors to our school by people of different religions. By the time our children move to secondary school, they will have visited at least three different places of worship.

Please click here for the RE long term overview.

Our way:

At South End Junior School, we teach Religious Education to pupils through weekly sessions which are planned for the year group by 1 person for consistency and are adapted where necessary for individual classes. When planning, we follow the county agreed syllabus, ‘Growing Together’ (SACRE) which has been mapped against the National Curriculum. RE is also regularly interwoven into whole school assemblies and class reflections.

During the weekly sessions, pupils will be introduced to the six main religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism) during their time in Lower Hub. Pupils are given a variety of activities which explore their origins, main beliefs, festivals, religious texts and symbols.

As children progress to Upper Hub, they use their knowledge to compare and contract beliefs in different religions – this will help to deepen their understanding of the different aspects of religion. Upper Hub also focus on other beliefs and attitudes in Humanism.

Throughout the units, there is a focus on subject-specific vocabulary. This are recorded in the RE scrapbooks for the children and adults to refer back to. Over a pupil’s time at SEJ, the vocabulary is regularly revisited and interwoven into lessons and retrieval activities.

Over the year, a wide variety of religious events are recognised and celebrated, and regularly form creative learning afternoons. For example, Year 4 and 6 celebrate Diwali through a range of different media, such as dance workshops and Diwali food tasting.

Children will take part in a variety of activities during their RE lessons, and these include whole class lessons, paired and group discussions, drama, use of ICT, art and the use of religious artefacts. Throughout their time at SEJS, children are encouraged to share their own experiences of religion whilst being tolerant and respectful of others’ beliefs and attitudes.