Religious Education (RE)

Intent

At Kemball, it is our intent that the teaching of RE will prepare our pupils for life outside of school. We are committed to enabling our pupils to discuss, understand and explore their own beliefs, be respectful of others, ask questions about the world around them and gain a greater knowledge of the wider world, both within the local community and the wider area. 

The teaching of RE, along with school and class worship, contributes to the wider ethos of the school and is an important part of the SMSC education of the pupils. RE provides our pupils with opportunities for spiritual, moral and cultural development as well as encouraging them to reflect on the morals of stories from a range of religions including their own. The RE curriculum complements PSHE, SMSC and the pupils’ understanding of British values by focusing upon questions of ethics, building relationships, and family alongside the overriding themes. 

Implementation

RE is taught explicitly across all pathways for 1-2 days per half term dependent upon the pathways. The curriculum focusses upon festivals and celebrations for Multisensory and Engagement (non-subject specific pathways) to allow them to be immersed in celebrations from our community and develop sensory awareness, interaction and engagement.   In the Progression pathway, we use a four year rolling program focussing on the six major religions, developing an understanding of the community, and multi-religious themes such as Places of Worship to develop key knowledge across the curriculum. Within the Functional pathway as with other subjects we focus on the functional aspect of RE to enable our pupils to understand a range of beliefs, develop their own opinions and understand the role of religion and a range of beliefs within our local community. This approach enables our curriculums to be purposeful for our individual learners and their needs and prepares our pupils for life beyond Kemball. 

RE in the EYFS lays the foundation for future learning and as such the topics are planned to link with the overriding topics. The focus for our pupils is linked in to celebrations throughout the school year, family life, and the community, making links between home and school. This allows our pupils to develop the core knowledge and engagement at their level to move into the appropriate pathway and continue to develop their knowledge.