The National Curriculum states the legal requirement that:
“Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which:
- Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and
- Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.”
And:
“All state schools… must teach religious education to pupils at every key stage… All schools must publish their curriculum by subject and academic year online”
(DfE National Curriculum Framework, July 2013, page 4).
The Agreed Syllabus for RE in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire 2021-26
The aim of Religious Education in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire is that pupils will know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews. They will express ideas and insights of their own into the significant human questions which religions address, gaining and deploying the skills needed to study religion.
Religious Education in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire schools contributes dynamically to children and young people’s education in schools, provoking challenging questions about human life, beliefs, communities and ideas.
In Religious Education pupils learn from religions and worldviews about different ways of life in local, national and global contexts. They discover, explore and consider many different answers to questions about human identity, meaning and value. They learn to weigh up for themselves the value of wisdom from different communities, to disagree respectfully, to be reasonable in their responses to religions and worldviews and to respond by expressing insights into their own and others’ lives. They think rigorously, creatively, imaginatively and respectfully about their ideas in relation to religions and worldviews.
Religious Education at Sycamore Academy
Intent
It is our intent that through Religious Education our children will develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the religions seeing that UK has a rich heritage of diversity (DCSF, 2010). Religious Education aims to contribute to pupils’ personal development and well-being by promoting mutual respect and tolerance. Religious Education also enables pupils to build their sense of identity, belonging and security.
Implementation
At Sycamore Academy, we use the agreed Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire syllabus alongside the Discovery RE Framework. Discovery RE is a whole school approach to Religious Education and it comprises of detailed medium-term planning covering Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. Through our enquiry-based school curriculum we offer our children with opportunities to celebrate and foster differences within our school and the wider world. The learning encourages children to explore their own beliefs and builds resilience (religious or non-religious).
At Sycamore Academy we use Discovery R.E to support the delivery of our Religious Education curriculum. Discovery R.E is a set of detailed medium-term plans for RE from Year 1 to Year 6. It adopts an enquiry based approach to teaching and learning. Christianity is taught in every year group, with Christmas and Easter given new treatment each year, developing the learning in a progressive way. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism are also covered. Humanist perspectives are added when appropriate in some enquiries.
Each enquiry guides the children through their learning journey. Learning objectives show the learning over the enquiry and SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) development opportunities are mapped throughout as is each enquiry’s contribution to the British Values agenda.
Impact
At Sycamore Academy, we seek to ensure that all pupils in our school are educated to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally to enable them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world.
Regular assemblies and celebrations of religious and non-religious festivals and events, implemented alongside weekly R.E. lessons, will help to celebrate the diversity of the wider community in Nottingham, including their beliefs, traditions, culture, language and history.
