R.E. Curriculum Rationale

Our RE Curriculum Vision 

At Ormskirk C.E. we are theologists! We want our children to love religious education and we want them to remember their RE lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the opportunities they are presented with! We encourage them to be inspired by the stories of Jesus and other world faiths; aim to live out our Christian values; to grow up to achieve their dreams and that God’s love will shine through them.  

Our RE Subject Specific Characteristics  

We expect our children to demonstrate these subject specific characteristics. They underpin all work in RE lessons, form a focal point for display areas and provide a common subject specific language for all stakeholders. 

At Ormskirk CE, we are theologists. We have… 

• An outstanding level of understanding and knowledge of Christianity as a living faith that influences the lives of people worldwide and as the religion that has most shaped British culture and heritage. 

• The ability to ask significant and highly reflective (BIG) questions about religion and demonstrate an excellent understanding of issues related to the nature, truth and value of religion. 

• A strong understanding of how the beliefs, values, practices and ways of life within any religion cohere together and impact society, culture and the wider world. 

• Exceptional independence; the ability to think for themselves and take the initiative in, for example, asking questions, evaluating ideas and working constructively with others to express ideas and insights. 

• The ability to link the study of religion and belief to personal spiritual/philosophical convictions, exploring and enriching their own beliefs and values.  

Our Christian Ethos 

We at Ormskirk CE, provide the children with a learning environment that reflects the Christian Ethos of the school. It encourages the children to: 

• Admire the wonders of God’s world together.  

• Inspire a love of lifelong learning in everybody. 

• Make a welcoming, meaningful and exciting place for everybody. 

• Share and care for everybody in it.  

We give high priority to fostering strong links between home, school and church and it welcomes all children.  

Our Christian Values 

The distinctive Christian character of our school aims to meet the needs of all learners. Through the teaching of RE; our worship and throughout our school community, Christian values are at the heart. These are prevalent in our reflective spaces; in our behaviour policy and in our expectations.

Curriculum Intent

Our RE syllabus ‘Questful RE’ embraces the explicit teaching of Christian concepts and God’s big salvation story. We want to provide our children with a deeper understanding of Christianity through an open investigative enquiry approach; giving the children a sense of being on a quest of discovery.  

We want to ensure that we enrich pupils time in school with memorable experiences, for example, when our children have the opportunity to take part in prayer workshops. This enables them to reflect and respond considering both themselves and others. The children also really enjoy our art days when they are able to freely express their thoughts and ideas about God through art. Children in Year 4 have the opportunity to visit a Jewish synagogue & a mosque so they can develop understanding of the Jewish & Muslim beliefs, values & traditions and grow a positive attitude of respect towards other faiths. Our children in Year 2 and above also visit the local Methodist Church and take part in the Lent journey experience and Year 1 visit our local Parish Church and the vicar teaches them about baptism.

Curriculum Implementation 

We have adopted the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education Syllabus for RE which fulfils all legal requirements and the RE Statement of Entitlement from the Church of England Education Office 2016. 

Through our syllabus, we learn about  

•God who reveals the truth about himself and humanity through creation, the giving of the law, his action in history and through the prophets;  

•God who reveals himself ultimately in Jesus his Son, living among us and dying and rising for us;  

•God who reveals himself in his Spirit working in the living faith of the Church experienced through scripture, tradition and reason.  

We learn from  

•An empathetic response to the Christian faith and a critical engagement with it;  

•Responding personally to the stories and teachings of Jesus Christ;  

•Examples of Christian living which give priority to the values of unconditional love, forgiveness, reconciliation, justice, compassion and faith.  

Religious Education in our School helps pupils to:  

•Learn about other faiths, their beliefs, traditions and practices and from them through encounter and dialogue;  

•Recognise and respect those of all faiths in their search for God;  

•Recognise areas of common belief and practice between different faiths;  

•Enrich and expand their understanding of truth while remaining faithful to their own tradition;  

•Enrich their own faith through examples of holy living in other traditions. 

•Reflect theologically and explore the ultimate questions and challenges of life in today’s society;  

•Reflect critically on the truth claims of Christian belief;  

•See how the truth of Christianity is relevant today;  

•Understand the challenge faced by Christians in today’s pluralist and post-modern society;  

•Develop the skills to handle the Bible text;  

•Recognise that faith is based on commitment to a particular way of understanding God and the world;  

•Begin to develop their own commitments, beliefs and values;  

•Develop a sense of themselves as significant, unique and precious;  

•Experience the breadth and variety of the Christian community;  

•Engage in thoughtful dialogue with other faiths and traditions;  

•Become active citizens, serving their neighbour;  

•Find a reason for hope in a troubled world;  

•Understand how religious faith can sustain believers in difficult circumstances and in the face of opposition.  

Religious Education in our school enables:  

•Pupils and teachers to talk openly and freely about their own personal beliefs and practice without fear of ridicule;  

•Pupils to make excellent and appropriate progress in their knowledge and understanding of Christianity;  

•Pupils from Christian families to talk openly about their beliefs and values in lessons and to grow in their faith;  

•Pupils from other faith backgrounds to understand and be encouraged in their faith;  

•Pupils with no religious background to be given an insight into what it means to be a person of faith;  

•Pupils of all backgrounds to have a safe place to explore the ultimate questions and challenges of life in today’s society.  

Spiritual Development  

This should develop:  

A breadth of outlook: the ability to see things in perspective and to take account of relevant consideration in arriving at decisions.  

Hope in response to and in the face of life.  

Love, a characteristic of a spirited person.  

A sense of wonder, or mystery and transcendence in life.  

Moral Development  

This should enable pupils to:  

Explore, examine and discuss situations which call for moral choices or judgment to be made.  

Assess situations in terms of consequences of actions and attitudes.  

Perceive the need for principles which can provide guidelines for oral decision making.  

Accept or admit to their own emotional experience and come to conclusions about the sort of responses they might reasonably adopt towards them. 

Social Education is concerned with pupils developing high standards in human relationships, showing respect to others and to property, developing positive attitudes to the school community and to the task of learning.  

The Cultural development of pupils will be enhanced by the school's provision of a broad curriculum. 

Teachers at Ormskirk CE believe that our children, whatever age, gender, culture, ethnic background or ability, should be able to develop an enjoyment of religious education. We set high expectations and provide opportunities for all pupils to achieve.  

For an example of what an R.E lesson at Ormskirk CE might look like, please click here: 

R.E. Progression Documents

• Whole School Planning Overview

• Questful RE Scheme
• Progression of Skills

Curriculum Impact

Assessment and record keeping is in accordance with the guidance given in the Blackburn Diocesan RE Syllabus and links have been made with the school assessment policy with regards to Bloom’s Taxonomy. For more information about Bloom’s Taxonomy please refer to our Teaching, Learning and Assessment Policy.   

All teachers will use a variety of assessment techniques to monitor children’s progress.  

Formative assessment will be on-going via observations and dialogue with the children with next steps discussed by both sides.     

Each class has a class ‘floor journal’ which is displayed for children and visitors to look at and contains records of discussions; responses to BIG questions and children’s thoughts from within RE lessons.  

We also use Earwig timelines for each child recording examples of work and discussions for parents to see as well as a useful tool for the subject lead and SLT. 

Feedback to the children about their RE is achieved through discussion, evaluation and effective marking. This is carried out in line with the school policy on marking and aim to be positive, constructive and immediate, where practical, in order to achieve potential.    

Withdrawal of Pupils from R.E.  

The Worship and Religious Education provided by the school is in accordance with the Church of England or Methodist Church Foundation.  This foundation is also reflected in the curriculum and the whole life of the school community. Since the conduct of the school as a whole reflects the Church of England or Methodist Church ethos, removal of pupils from Worship and/or Religious Education (as parents are legally entitled to do) cannot insulate them from the religious life of the school.  

Parent’s rights in respect of withdrawing children will be brought to attention at the time of the children starting Ormskirk C of E School.  

Parents may withdraw their children from RE lessons or any part of the RE curriculum and the school has a duty to supervise them, though not to provide additional teaching. Where a pupil has been withdrawn, the law provides for alternative arrangements to be made for RE of the kind the parents want to receive. These arrangements will be made by the parents - school is not expected to make these arrangements.