Religious Education & Other Worldviews

At Holme Valley it is our intent for the Religious Education and Worldviews element of our school curriculum to engage, inspire, challenge and encourage all pupils.

Equipping them with the knowledge and skills to answer challenging questions and to promote deeper thinking, we explore different religious beliefs, worldviews, values and traditions. Key areas of learning are revisited regularly and support spaced repetition through a spiral curriculum. This in turn allows progression over time and ensures that key knowledge is embedded in long term memory.

Religious Education and other Worldviews also have a significant role in developing pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural understanding. They promote open-mindedness towards different faiths and beliefs and encourage pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging through self-awareness and reflection.

We follow the Lincolnshire locally agreed syllabus 2018. The curriculum plans reflect the balanced RE approach, which focuses on a balance between believing (theology), living (human/social sciences) and thinking (philosophy).

The aim of the Lincolnshire RE syllabus is to produce pupils who are religiously literate and able to hold balanced and informed conversations about religion and belief.

Our RE and Other Worldviews curriculum will

• develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity as well as other principal religions and world views
• focus on concepts as well as content, within the context of enquiry-based learning
• explore authentic religious material, e.g. sacred texts
• reflect diversity in terms of the changing religious landscape of the UK so that they are prepared for life in modern Britain
• engage and challenge pupils
• reflect pupils’ own experiences and provide a safe space for discussion
• present religious belief as a real, lived phenomenon, not something exotic or belonging to the past
• consider the increase in the number of people with non-religious beliefs and identities
• provide opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development
• help to prepare pupils for adult life, enabling them to develop respect and sensitivity for others

Our pupils will

• develop key skills in RE and other Worldviews in order to enhance learning and this will be evident across all key stages.
• develop the skills through investigation and enquiry: asking relevant and increasingly deep questions; using a range of sources and evidence, including sacred texts; identifying and talking about key concepts.
• develop critical thinking and reflection: analysing information to form a judgement; reflecting on beliefs and practices, ultimate questions and experiences.
• develop empathy: considering the thoughts, feelings, experiences, attitudes, beliefs and values of others; seeing the world through the eyes of others.
• develop skills of interpreting religious language and the meaning of sacred texts; drawing meaning from, for example, artefacts and symbols.
• analyse: distinguishing between opinion, belief and fact; distinguishing between the features of different religions.
• evaluate: enquiring into religious issues and drawing conclusions with reference to experience, reason, evidence and dialogue.