Curriculum Statement

Intent
Canterbury Road’s Religious Education curriculum seeks to enable learners to become aware of their own beliefs and values and to develop a positive attitude towards people who hold religious beliefs or views different from their own. Throughout our curriculum, we aim to support pupils in developing their understanding of Christianity and other principal world religions, as a contribution to their understanding of the world and their own experience within it. We encourage learners to consider the ways in which a person’s beliefs influence their behaviour and practices and apply these insights to their own lives and communities. Children are encouraged to explore “big” questions arising from the study of all religions and share their own ideas, experiences and beliefs so as to promote their personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Parents have the right to withdraw their children from RE on the grounds that they wish to provide their own religious education. (School Standards and Framework Act 1998 S71 (3). Please contact the school if you wish to discuss this further /withdraw your child.

Implementation                                                                                                                                     

RE begins in Year R where children learn about celebrations and beliefs of others. They learn that people celebrate differently depending on their beliefs and what these celebrations signify.  They learn that everyone’s view or belief is of value whether it is the same as theirs or not. 

At Canterbury Road Primary School we follow the Kent Agreed Syllabus 2017-2022 and from September 2023 will follow the updated syllabus (written by RE Today and Kent SACRE and endorsed by the Diocese of Canterbury and Rochester).  This syllabus presents pupils with opportunities to learn about faith and culture in the wider world community, enabling them to explore key values that have been treasured by all religious traditions, regardless of religious belief or conviction.  As part of ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ pupils have weekly RE lessons and opportunities to visit local places of worship and meet with religious leaders in their own community.

The principal aim of RE in the Kent Syllabus is: to engage pupils in systematic enquiry into significant human questions which religion and worldviews address, so that they can develop the understanding and skills needed to appreciate and appraise varied responses to these questions, as well as develop responses of their own.

Our pupil friendly version of this aim is: through Religious Education we explore big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live. This helps us make sense of religion, reflecting on our own ideas and ways of living.

The syllabus is divided into three strands:  Believing   Expressing   Living.  The curriculum is presented as a series of questions and lessons are planned and delivered in a variety of ways ensuring that all children can access and participate in lessons.  Interactive, practical activities encourage the children to discuss their ideas and extend their understanding of difficult concepts and challenging questions. The children are encouraged to relate the learning to their own lives.

Impact
As a result of our teaching, children leaving Canterbury Road Primary School are tolerant of other people’s faiths and views.  They have had the opportunity to widen their knowledge and understanding of, and their ability to respond to - Christianity and other principal world religions and world views; consider the influence of faith and belief on individuals, societies, communities and cultures; and develop skills of refection, expression, application, analysis and evaluation of beliefs, values and practices, and the communication of personal responses to these and other religious, moral and social issues.