Religious Education

Our RE curriculum at Aldryngton aims to…

• Allow children to acquire both the knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions and worldviews represented in Britain.
• Include enquiry into, and investigation of, the nature of religion, its beliefs, teachings and ways of life, sources, practices and forms of expressions.
• Help children identify and develop an understanding of ultimate questions and ethical issues from religious and non-religious perspectives.

Aldryngton RE Overview

Our curriculum at Aldryngton follows a two-year rolling cycle. Our RE curriculum has been designed to cover both statutory and non-statutory aspects of the National Curriculum. We follow The Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education Pan-Berkshire 2018-2023. The children cover Christianity every year whilst also learning about the views and beliefs in Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Islam as well as non-religious beliefs.

The Pan-Berkshire syllabus is based on “big questions” and links between three strands of Belonging, Believing and Behaving. As a school, a set of questions were devised under these three strands to help inform the learning the children will encounter during each year at the school with some questions appearing more than once but covering a different religion.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, ages 3-4)

RE is only statutory for EYFS children registered on the school roll i.e. from their Reception Year, not for those in nursery classes in maintained schools or in other early years settings. Where it is statutory, the RE should be aligned to the most recent EYFS framework. During the Reception Year (ages 4-5), pupils MUST encounter Christianity PLUS at least one other religion from Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. It is expected that learning will be experiential and thematic during the EYFS.

Primary Phase (Years 1- 6, ages 5-11)

By the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6, age 11), pupils MUST have studied Christianity in every year group PLUS Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, by exploring the Key Questions for the relevant Key Stage. They must have achieved the expected outcomes identified in the syllabus.

Throughout Aldryngton’s RE curriculum, our six school values are woven throughout the teachers’ planning and the discussions and activities facilitated in class. Children participate in a variety of different tasks such as sequencing stories, whole-class, small group and paired discussions, longer written tasks, creative activities and more.

RE Inspired

Here at Aldryngton, all phases of the school take part in sessions led by Sue Rees and her team of fantastic volunteers at RE Inspired. These sessions take part across the year and cover a variety of topics and questions. See the table below for an overview of the topics covered in the 2021-2022 sessions and the topics being covered in 2022-2023.

Phase of school	Year A	Year B
Foundation	Christmas Easter Noah	Christmas Easter Noah
Lower School	Christmas Easter and Religious Symbols	Teachings of Jesus Creation
Middle School	Worship Living in a Christian Family	Baptism – Rites of Passage Rules and Codes
Upper School	Inspirational Christians Death and Funerals Big Questions (Year 6 only)	Sacred Texts Holding Religious Beliefs Big Questions (Year 6 only)

The children always come back from these sessions having had in depth discussions about their own lines of enquiry whilst hearing about the views of others. The children always display mature attitudes towards the sessions and come away having deepened their understanding of religion in action.

RE Inspired – https://www.reinspired.org.uk/

Parents and carers do have the right to remove their child from either all or selected R.E. lessons. If parents wish to do this, then they should contact the school office. This also applies if further information is requested on the content of R.E. lessons beyond what is stated on this page.