Ms J Toyne R.E Leader

Our Vision for RE

Religious Education is the study of humankind, our beliefs and values and our sense of awe and wonder. Working in RE, children at Birchwood Junior School learn about the belief systems of world religions and the importance of spirituality regardless of belief or none. Our Religious Education curriculum is influenced by Forest Skies Dream Big powers.

Key skills (lenses) of faith and belief, practices and actions, compare and connect and ideas and opinions are written as a spiral curriculum, each year group (Y3-6) revisiting through different contexts.

Discover – through learning about different religions and practices children are able to make up their own minds about what they believe

Reasoning – through understanding why a follower might make decisions and choices children are able to reason through their own

Empathise – using stories and recounts of events, we can put ourselves in another shoes and walk in their footsteps

Ask Questions – helping to develop independent enquiry and pose their own ideas for investigation, asking believers for their personal experiences

Make mistakes – evaluating our own learning and suggesting how we could do better

Be Resilient – challenging ourselves and others to deepen our understanding through challenge questions

Imagine and create – using artworks to show how a believer can express themselves through art, music and drama

Grow – becoming confident thinkers and reflectors who can link our understanding and ideas across the full curriculum and consider our own beliefs

Our curriculum is outlined below but please feel free to pop into school any time and ask to speak with our RE lead Miss Toyne. She is always more than welcome to answer any questions.

How religious education promotes our golden threads

Inclusivity for all

The RE curriculum is inclusive, all children are able to participate and be successful through adapted tasks and resources, and adult support. Children with complex needs and EHCPs have a planned adapted pathway for history. This ensures that the key subject knowledge for their age group is taught and the children have experience of each unit of work.  Staff know the children well and are able to adapt plans accordingly to take into account gaps in learning and limit of previous experiences. When we know the children need to have a better understanding of the wider world, then we can plan our learning accordingly. Our learning journeys and approaches to planning help to build independence and resilience. We introduce new skills and knowledge in small steps and use a mastery approach to ensure that these are embedded before moving forward.

Every Child a reader

Every year group across school has access to relevant books that fall in line with the unit they are teaching at the time. These books form excellent resources for pre reads within lesson. Children have access to these books for independent or grouped reads and can form linked texts within reading sessions across our curriculum. Staff are also alerted to any online reading that can be shared with classes with upcoming sessions in that unit.

Experiences, for deep sustained learning

Experiences are incredibly important to help children see faith as a living thing, that people of faith live their teachings every day. The school has invested in VR headsets to further enhance experiences within the classroom and the use of external visitors will form part of ongoing development.

We have links with local churches who visit to support RE lessons as well as lead collective worship

Mental, Physical and Emotional Wellbeing

RE supports the development of mental and emotional wellbeing by providing opportunities for stillness and meditation. By learning how others use their faith and community to support spiritual development, children can begin to make their own decisions about faith and belonging. We are currently developing our work around spirituality and the children's sense of awe and wonder about the world.

Community Approach

Our community is at the heart of everything we do. We have adapted our curriculum so that is relevant to our community and have begun to develop a greater sense of being part of Birchwood and Lincoln through using local churches and church leaders.