At Keep Hatch Primary School, our intent is to provide children with critical thinking skills, the ability to personally reflect on the child’s own thoughts and feelings, to grow subject knowledge and nurture spiritual development through six identified Golden Threads. The teaching of RE is enriching and engaging, following an enquiry-based approach, where we learn about, and from, the main world faiths in a progressive way from the Early Years up to the end of Year 6.

In the Early Years, the learning is closely matched to Development Matters to contribute meaningfully to your child’s holistic development. Throughout all the enquiries, the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is carefully considered and RE lessons also contribute to pupils’ personal development and well-being and to community cohesion by promoting mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse society which also aligns with our school values.

Each enquiry lasts for half a term and begins with a key enquiry question. In the first lesson, the children start discussing the theme of the enquiry from their own experience and when the children fully understand the concept they are considering, they then move on to investigating what the people following the studied religion believe. They will spend approximately three lessons on this part of the enquiry, learning in a variety of ways, so they can adapt their responses and come to a measured conclusion.

In the fifth lesson, children complete an activity which can assess their learning, by answering the key enquiry question. The assessment activities enable children to justify their views about the knowledge they have gained throughout the enquiry. This enables children to demonstrate critical thinking which is a valuable skill for them throughout the school curriculum.

The final week in every enquiry gives the children time to reflect upon what they have learnt about the concept and apply to it their own lives, thus allowing them to develop their own beliefs and identity. The final lesson of each enquiry is often very creative and children have opportunities to express themselves in ways other than just writing, offering opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development, deepening the understanding of the significance of religion in the lives of others.

Christianity is taught as three of these units each year (except Year 6 where it is two). Our curriculum plan enables children to build up and deepen their understanding of a number of different religions over the years in a very progressive way.

It is the policy of the school and Frays Academy Trust that Collective Worship and Religious Education are for all. Children should not be withdrawn, unless at the request of parents, by a letter to the Headteacher. The school will respect parental wishes and will discuss the request to see if an accommodation can be reached and to ensure collective worship and religious education remains inclusive, invitational and open to all members of the school community.