At Woodlands Primary School the religious education curriculum aims to give the children in our care a broad knowledge and understanding of the principal religions, these are Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. In Key Stage One we focus our learning on Christianity and Islam. In Key Stage Two we continue to focus on Christianity and Islam as well as introducing Hinduism. As a school we have chosen these religions to support our demographic and to aid the children in their understanding of world issues.
Religious education is taught following the Telford and Wrekin SACRE agreed units. These focus on teaching within a local, national, and global context, giving children the opportunity to discuss and explore a variety of religious themes, allowing children to share their opinion freely and listening to others. Our school RE curriculum offers children opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development. It considers the influence of religion on individuals, families, communities and cultures.
Religious education is taught through six focused curriculum days over the academic year. This allows us to build on prior knowledge and have the time for in-depth discussions needed for children to enhance their understanding within the subject. Alongside the specific days we also link our learning across the curriculum through use of our substantive concepts. The substantive concepts for religious studies are:
- Celebrations/festivals
- Ethics and moral code
- Caring
- Forgiveness
- Community
- Peace
- Sacrifice/suffering
During our whole school and Key Stage assemblies there is a focus on different festivals at the appropriate time of year enabling children to understand what may be happening in the world as well as their own local community. We also have a high focus on personal development which has strong links to religious education. Through the use of substantive concepts and a focus within assemblies this helps children to know and remember more.
Below is an image of our RE curriculum coverage, click the file link for a copy of this document. RE Coverage for each year group 22-23
Our curriculum is carefully designed to ensure key knowledge and skills progress in a logical and sequenced way, thus enabling pupils to revisit previously taught content and to build upon it year on year. We use carefully structured progression documents to ensure that substantive and disciplinary knowledge and skills are clearly outlined and sequenced, thus enabling the children to know and remember more, as they move through school.
