Religion and Worldviews

Vision

At Wembley Primary School, we strive to provide our children with the skills and knowledge needed to become Global Citizens and we understand the key role an understanding of religion and worldviews plays in supporting this. Our curriculum is tailored to nurture our learners’ ability to think critically about people’s beliefs, traditions and ideas about the world. In doing so, pupils will become independent and responsible members of society who understand and explore big questions about life; finding out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live so that they can make sense of religion, and reflect on their own ideas and ways of living.

Intent

At the heart of our curriculum is the motto 'enquiring minds dig deeper'. Our curriculum is designed to foster a sense of enquiry so that our children are better equipped at understanding the diversity within the world around them. It aims to ensure that every child:

Respects and understands the main religions of Great Britain as well as a range of religions and world views.
Understands the complexity of the world and society's diversity.
Can make sense of the past and prepare themselves for the future
Values themselves and understands how they fit in with and contribute to the community around them.
Can engage in discussions based on belief systems through personal or guided enquiry.

Implementation

At Wembley Primary School, we follow the Brent policy for Religious Education. Our scheme of learning has been provided by Sacre and there are seven concepts threaded through our curriculum: creation, morality, worship, identity, commitment, celebration and belief. Children explore these concepts through key questions in units such as - who do we thank, what makes us special and creation stories.

Religion and Worldviews education is taught as a one hour lesson, once weekly. Class teachers as well as HLTAs teach the lessons by following specified planning. Learning is enriched by giving children opportunities to listen to stories, explore artefacts and have discussions where they are able to reflect on their personal beliefs. We aim to provide children with the opportunity to develop, build and strengthen their knowledge and understanding of different religious beliefs and worldviews. Therefore, our scheme of learning is designed like a web, where each unit of learning builds on the previous one and is an important precursor for the next, enabling children to access a breadth and depth of knowledge throughout their time at Wembley Primary School.

We deliver our lessons through a range of activities including but not limited to discussions and debates, listening to religious stories and visits to places of worship, allowing pupils to learn through a range of different teaching styles. In addition to this, at Wembley Primary School we celebrate a variety of religious festivals that take place throughout the year in order to ensure pupils are informed about how people with different religious beliefs live and worship alongside one another.

Impact

We aspire to develop a culture of understanding and respect of differences. Our aim is that through enquiry, children will be able to nurture their curiosity and develop the skills required to deepen their understanding of a range of belief systems by asking purposeful questions, examining a range of material or evidence and considering the different perspectives they encounter in the real world.

Supporting your child’s learning

Having discussions with children about religions and worldviews that explore identity, traditions, values, beliefs and ways of thinking are beneficial in deepening their knowledge and understanding.

Some examples of questions you could explore are:

- Why do we need charity in the world? (Morality)

- What do you think about where the world came from? ( Belief)

- Why should we be thankful for our world? (Belief)

There are a lot of useful websites that provide children with support when learning about religion and worldviews. Some are linked below:

Right to withdraw from Religious Education

Under UK law, parents have the right to withdraw their child from Religious Education (RE) lessons if they choose. However, at our school we strongly encourage parents considering this to first have a discussion with our Religion and Worldviews Leader. This conversation will help provide a clear understanding of our Religion & Worldviews curriculum and the valuable insights it offers into various beliefs and cultures.

R & W Curriculum