Intent:
The aim of Religious Education is to help children to acquire and develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain; to appreciate the way that religious beliefs shape life and our behaviour, develop the ability to make reasoned and informed judgements about religious and moral issues and enhance their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Religious Education is taught throughout the school in such a way as to reflect the overall aims, values, and philosophy of the school. Religious Education at Crowan plays an important role, along with all other curriculum areas, such as PSHE in promoting the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of our children.
Implementation:
In accordance with the Agreed Syllabus for Cornwall, the following religions have been selected for study:
- Christianity
- Islam
- Judaism
- Hinduism
- Sikhism
As Christianity dominates the current syllabus, the ‘Understanding Christianity’ programme of study is to be adopted at Crowan in the Autumn term.
However, there are no presumptions made as to the religious backgrounds and beliefs and values of the children and the staff at Crowan. We value the religious background of all members of the school community and hope that this will encourage individuals to share their own experiences with others freely. The children at Crowan will enjoy learning lots about other religions and why people choose, or choose not to follow a religion.
We promote teaching in Religious Education that stresses open enquiry and first-hand experiences wherever possible for both staff and children. We will encourage visitors into school and visits to support and further the children’s learning. Furthermore, RE at Crowan will be taught through a rolling programme to ensure coverage and breadth of study.
Impact:
Through their R.E. learning, the children are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. R.E. acts as a hub, therefore, between social aspects of learning, science and geography. Furthermore, it offers our children the means by which to understand how other people choose to live and to understand why they choose to live in that way, thus developing an understanding of other people’s cultures and ways of life to foster and encourage respect for all.
Cornwall Agreed Syllabus
We follow the Cornwall Agreed Syllabus 2020, which is a statutory document for Cornwall LA community, trust, foundation and controlled schools. It can be adopted by aided schools, academies and free schools with the consent of their governing bodies or board of directors to support the delivery of the syllabus.
The New Agreed Syllabus implementation booklet sets out how the syllabus may be implemented, but it is for schools to implement the syllabus as they decide, as long as they are meeting the statutory requirement.
At Crowan, we have integrated this syllabus into our rolling programmes at both KS1 and KS2.
Curriculum Kernewek is embedded as a part of the Agreed Syllabus to help children appreciate the rich spiritual and religious heritage of Cornwall.
Understanding Christianity
This term, we have begun to use Understanding Christianity’s approach to teaching about Christianity. It builds up pupils’ encounters with these core concepts through biblical texts, placing the texts and concepts within the wider Bible story. Each unit addresses a concept, through some key questions, exploring core Bible texts, their impact for Christians, and possible implications for pupils. Each unit incorporates the three elements below:
Making sense of the text: developing pupils’ skills of reading and interpretation; understanding how Christians interpret, handle and use biblical texts; making sense of the meanings of texts for Christians.
Understanding the impact: examining ways in which Christians respond to biblical texts and teachings, and how they put their beliefs into action in diverse ways within the Christian community and in the world.
Making connections: evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the texts and concepts studied, and discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.
RE in the community
At Crowan, we enjoy close links with our local church, enjoying attending services there for Harvest and Christmas. More so, we enjoy fortnightly visits from our local ‘Open the book’ team who reenact bible stories interactively for the whole school.
Our children are also proud to represent the school annually for Armistice Day at services within our local village and in Camborne.
