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Religion and World Views
At Valley Invicta Primary School at Leybourne Chase we aim for excellence in developing our pupils' knowledge and understanding of the major world faiths. We intend to address, investigate, and reflect on the fundamental questions in life. We intend to provide our pupils with knowledge of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and non-religious views. Furthermore, we also strive to include and celebrate the main faiths of children within our school.
At Valley Invicta Primary School at Leybourne Chase, we follow the RE Today Primary RE Curriculum provided by NATRE and specifically planned from the Kent Agreed Syllabus.
“We live in a dynamic, ever-changing society full of different perspectives, beliefs and cultures. Learning about these things helps children to see the world clearly and helps them develop an understanding about the world and the people in it.”
~BBC news, Family and Education
Our carefully planned and balanced curriculum allows our children to develop their understanding whilst providing them with new experiences. We want our children to become independent and responsible members of society. Children are supported to be engage and think rigorously and creatively to make informed judgements; they come to understand that it is acceptable to have doubts and to disagree in a reasoned and sensitive way. In the process they will develop an aptitude for dialogue so that they can skilfully participate in discussions and develop their skills to be able to examine and reflect on a range of questions about spirituality, identify, morality, values, and commitments. We want our pupils to know that religious education discernment and enables pupils to combat prejudice, therefore preparing them to be thoughtful members of our diverse and multicultural society.
We aim to ensure the use of art, drama, thinking skills, speaking and listening activities, visits, posters, photographs, videos, ICT use, display work and other active learning strategies, in RE. Cross curricular work is encouraged, in line with whole school policy on teaching and learning. We recognise the importance of teaching to the Kent Agreed Syllabus in a creative, knowledge-rich, broad and balanced way.
RE is taught through discrete lessons. The topics and vocabulary have been organised and sequenced logically to allow new knowledge to build on prior learning.
Take a look at our teaching sequence.
RE gives particular opportunities to promote an ethos of respect for others, challenges stereotypes and build understanding of other cultures and beliefs. This contributes to promoting a positive and inclusive school ethos that champions democratic values and human rights. External contributors from the community, e.g. local clergy, local members/speakers from other religions etc make a valuable contribution to the RE programme as do visits to places of worship. Their input is carefully planned and monitored to fit into and compliment the learning sequence. Teachers are always present during these sessions and remain responsible for the effective delivery of the RE curriculum.
The impact of this curriculum design will lead to excellent progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. We would like our children to be ‘religiously’ literate and therefore be able to empathise with others and make links between faiths. Our RE curriculum will also lead pupils to be enthusiastic RE learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice and their work.
