Religious Education
At Lady Elizabeth Hastings RE teaching combines the Local Agreed Syllabus with Understanding Christianity.
RE is an academic subject but also provides opportunity for children to understand what it means to be a religious believer in the world today and to encounter the values of the Christian community of the school that they are a part of. RE in the Church school should support children to recognise and act on the insights, principles, beliefs, attitudes and values that should influence, inspire or guide them in life.
The purpose of RE is religious literacy. This means, helping children and young people to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and belief.
A balanced RE needs to provide a balance between three disciplines. These are:
Theology: This is about believing. It looks at where beliefs come from, how they have changed over time, how they are applied differently in different contexts and how they relate to each other.
Philosophy: This is about thinking. It is about finding out how and whether things make sense. It deals with questions of morality and ethics. It takes seriously the nature of reality, knowledge and existence.
Human/Social Sciences: This is about living. It explores the diverse ways in which people practise their beliefs. It engages with the impact of beliefs on individuals, communities and societies.
Children have weekly RE lessons as well as ongoing investigations or challenges to deepen their understanding In addition we also have whole school RE days and weeks during the school year. These include Harvest, Divali, Easter, Pentecost, Weddings (contrasting a Hindu wedding with a Christian one) and Reflection week.
RE Assessment
In Foundation Stage, evidence of a child’s understanding in this area of learning is recorded as an observation on an ipad. The teacher uses the information to make judgements as to whether s/he child is making expected progress in the area entitled ‘People and Communities’. The teacher records a child’s level of development on the 2simple tracking system. In the summer term the teacher decides whether or not s/he has achieved the ELG for ‘People and Communities’.
In Key Stage 1 and 2 the key assessment objectives are identified in each unit of work. The teacher makes a judgement about a child’s level of attainment through observations, discussion and ‘work’ produced. The class teacher records observations on short term plans. At the end of a unit of work the teacher makes a judgement on whether children are working at age expected levels. The RE results are recorded on the Depth of learning – O'track Pupil Progress Tracker. The RE Co-ordinator is responsible for analysing the data, sharing results and producing an action plan for the following year.
All classes keep evidence of RE work in the form of a whole class big book. Additionally, children put their RE work in individual RE books to show progression throughout the year.
LEH Religious Education Policy
Reflection
All classes have reflection areas and the children to consider the key value of the term and reflect on how they can live it out. This may be through questions, pictures, stories, quietness.
Christianity as a Worldwide Faith
Through our strong links with our local Parish Church and churches in Ledsham and Fairburn, as well as our work for charities both in this country and abroad, our children are developing their understanding as Christianity as a worldwide faith.
Studying other Religions
Christianity is the main religion studied in our school, however children will also study Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Secular/nonreligious worldviews at points throughout their 7 years at Lady Elizabeth Hastings. during units of work their is opportunity to compare and contrast other religions with Christianity to support our children to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and belief.