Our schools vision drives the intent, implementation and impact of its ‘Religion and Worldviews’ (RW) curriculum, enabling every child to flourish in line with our Church school foundation and the Church of England’s Vision for Education. It informs our commitment to delivering a high quality, focused, spiral and progressive RW curriculum that reflects our foundation as a Church school and as members of a world society.
We want our children to be curious and to ask questions to develop their understanding of Religion and Worldviews in the world around them. Our RW curriculum is sequenced to build knowledge progressively and to encourage children to make meaningful connections between their learning and their own experiences. It is deliberately knowledge and vocabulary rich. This well-planned curriculum content along with reflective opportunities, all contribute to our children flourishing in their RW learning.
Our RW curriculum is carefully planned using ‘Understanding Christianity’ and the ‘Swindon Syllabus’. We weave Christianity as a golden thread throughout our RW teaching, enabling children to engage deeply with core Christian beliefs such as Creation, Incarnation and Salvation. Alongside Christianity, our curriculum includes diverse religious traditions and worldviews. A different religion/worldview is introduced and explored in each year and then in Year 5 and 6 they are looked at side by side to look at common threads. This broadens our children’s understanding and promotes respect for religious diversity. This diversity also ensures the curriculum remains balanced and relevant to our school community and the wider world in which our children live.
We prioritise RW as a core subject within the curriculum, ensuring that it is taught regularly across all key stages as blocked units of learning or alongside units of learning. We ensure that children have opportunities to engage meaningfully with our RW curriculum in ways that connect with their own lives, beliefs, and experiences. The implementation of RW in this way supports children to become fully secure in each unit as well as supporting them to build progressive understanding of the key concepts that are woven throughout the curriculum.
To support high quality planning and assessment, teachers draw upon knowledge from the school’s RW Lead, as well as from experts within our academy, BKAT, and the Diocese of Bristol. The ‘Understanding Christianity’ materials and ‘Swindon Syllabus’ form the basis from which we plan and resource our learning within RW.
The quality of ‘Religions and Worldviews’ (RW) provision is underpinned by our theologically rooted Christian vision – that we sow seeds in our children that we nurture and encourage to grow in them. Within RW, it shows our commitment to nurturing each child’s understanding of religion and worldviews and helps them to develop a questioning, understanding and respectful mind. The integration of ‘Understanding Christianity’ alongside the ‘Swindon Syllabus’ deepens pupils’ engagement and opens them to many religions and worldviews.
Children’s learning journeys are supported by valuing different learning styles and recognising individual needs and strengths. This inclusive approach ensures that progress is accessible for all, including disadvantaged and SEND children. Regular enrichment activities (e.g. visits from the local vicar, visiting the church to support RW learning) enhance pupils’ understanding and engagement in RW.
Ongoing assessment informs our teaching and learning, which is adapted to ensure that all children are meeting the expected standard at the end of each unit of learning. Misconceptions are addressed and further support given when needed. Advice is also being sought from the RW lead. Within RW we currently use syllabus assessment, teacher knowledge and pearl power quizzes (looking back to prior learning) to ensure our children are on track in RW and have long term learning in place.
In our Religion and Worldviews learning, we use the approach of learning as a theologian, philosopher, and sociologist. The children use 3 characters - Theo, Sophie and Livvy - who help them ask and answer questions related to their learning. These characters have been taken from the Diocese of Lincoln document, ‘In Conversation about Assessment and RE’ (2023). (The following images of the three characters we use on our website are copyright ‘Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education 2023.’)
Theo is a theologian and encourages children to use the skill of theology.
He is interested in what people believe, where those beliefs come from and how ideas connect with each other. He helps children to understand that not everyone will believe exactly the same things, even if they consider themselves to follow the same religion. He also helps children to interpret and understand sources of authority, such as religious texts and books, prayers etc. Children are encouraged to recognise that people will interpret the same source of authority in a range of different ways.
Sophie is a philosopher and encourages the children to use the skill of philosophy.
She is interested in how people think and reason with the world, and why. She asks questions about what people know and how they know it. She allows children an opportunity to interrogate their own thoughts, values and opinions, developing critical thinking skills when asking ‘Why do I think that?’ thus linking to their own personal knowledge. For example, Sophie might ask the children to explore whether they think something is ‘good’ or moral, and then encourage them to unpick why they think that; is it their upbringing, a parent, their environment or a religious worldview that has shaped that opinion? The children can then apply these critical thinking skills when considering the opinions and thoughts of others, and of different worldviews, linking to our British Values of tolerance and mutual respect.
Livvy is a sociologist and encourages children to use the skill of sociology.
She is interested in how people live, and how the things they believe might influence how they live. The children are encouraged to recognise that this will not be the same for everyone within one worldview, and they are asked to compare and contrast similarities and differences within one worldview. Livvy helps the children to analyse and compare contexts as well; what is appropriate for one worldview in one area might not be appropriate in another, and this influences the ways in which people live. This allows the children to develop an idea of the richness and variety of different lived worldviews.
At our school, we strongly believe that RW plays a unique and important role in every child’s education and personal, social and cultural development. RW helps children to learn about different religions and worldviews, encourages respect and understanding of others, and supports pupils in exploring important questions about values, beliefs and life in a diverse society. Our RW curriculum is taught in an inclusive and age-appropriate way, and it promotes curiosity, empathy and mutual respect.
For these reasons, we feel that participation in RW is valuable for all children and we actively encourage parents to allow their child to take part. However, we recognise that parents have a legal right to withdraw their child, either wholly or partly, from Religion and Worldviews learning. Should parents wish to exercise this right, we ask that they discuss their decision with the Headteacher so we can ensure suitable arrangements are made for their child. The right of withdrawal does not extend to other areas of the curriculum when, as may happen on occasion, spontaneous questions on religious matters are raised by pupils or there are issues related to religion that arise in other subjects.
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Telephone: 01249 720407
For general enquiries please contact the school office
Headteacher - Mrs Hayley Clayton
SENCO – Mrs Catherine Frost
Chair of Local Governing Body– Mr Tony Weedon
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