Religious and Non-Religious Worldviews (RE)

Frodsham Manor House have been awarded the REQM Gold twice for our work in RE. Mrs Anstice is our RE Co-Ordinatior and is also a Specialist Leader in Education, Advisor for Cheshire West Schools and Vice Chair of NATRE (National Association for the Teachers of RE).  She supports other schools with the REQM, regularly speaks at national conferences, trains those becoming teachers and leads workshops. 

Intent

Our RE curriculum is designed to meet the content requirements of the Cheshire West Agreed Syllabus. Every five years the Agreed Syllabus is updated, with the next revision due Summer 2024. This allows for the ever changing nature of worldviews and reflects changes in the locality, national changes and global developments. It also reflects current educational research.

The CW&C syllabus states that through the teaching of RE, children learn the essential knowledge of other religions and worldviews, as well as skills and attitudes such as critical thinking and empathy. This understanding of others’ worldviews is an essential first step to enabling each pupil to understand, reflect on and develop their own personal worldview. Each unit of work delivered is based around a key question in order to model a questioning and researcher based approach to the subject and follows the Essential Knowledge document by CWAC. These core concepts make up our Substantive Knowledge. Our Disciplinary Knowledge aims to foster understanding, respect, and appreciation for different beliefs and cultures, promote moral and spiritual development, encourage critical thinking about ethical and philosophical questions, and provide opportunities for reflection and personal growth. Through these themes, children develop empathy, tolerance, and a sense of community, contributing to their holistic development as individuals and citizens in a diverse world.

We have three themes that we explore through our learning; 1) Belief and authority, 2) Worship, life journey and spirituality, 3) Equality and Diversity. Throughout a child’s journey in school they will encounter Christianity, Islam, the Jewish Faith, Sikhi, Hindu Dharma and Humanism, they will meet visitors who follow particular worldviews and have opportunities to work with artefacts, sacred texts, arts and visit places of worship. In our lessons we will introduce our learners to the rich diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews to take steps towards understanding what it means to be human. Children will be able to question what a worldview is, how it influences personal decisions, communities and wider society. We develop Personal Knowledge through a curriculum which builds pupils’ awareness of their own assumptions and values and we also introduce them to the scholarly methods (Disciplinary Knowledge) which can be applied in RE lessons developing the skills of Sociologists, Theologians and Philosophers.

Implementation

Our RE lessons are taught weekly and are based on a focus question each half term, we make connections and use investigatory skills to help us to answer this.  Our work is concept driven and we ensure key words, which we call our ‘Key Vocabulary’ develops our religious literacy and equips us with the skills we need to discuss and access religion and non-religion. Learning is captured in our class ‘Big Book’ and is referred back to throughout the year to consolidate learning. We learn about Christianity and Hindu Dharma in EYFS. Then Christianity, Jewish Faith and Islam in Key Stage One followed by Christianity, Hindu Dharma, Sikhi,  Islam and the Jewish Faith in Key Stage Two.  We are also introduced to Humanism as a non-religious world view with sessions in both key stages delivered as unique units as well as themes and alongside other learning to make a comparison. We may also consider different religions alongside global learning and interfaith projects.

Our Long Term plan outlines the progression maps for knowledge and skills. To build on our knowledge and ensure a continuity of focus, we have introduced three common threads that run through our lessons;

• Belief and Authority
• Worship, Life Stages and Spirituality
• Equality and Diversity

In our RE lessons we develop our learning as Theologians (when thinking  to make connections in sacred texts, core concepts and belief), Philosophers (when thinking deeply about puzzling questions which can include our own world view) and Sociologists (when thinking about how people live their lives and how a belief in shown in practice as part of a community which includes worship and festivals). These are some of our lenses which help us to understand the world around us and consider viewpoints different to our own. We also have RE Buddies, (persona dolls including a Humanist) who help us to develop learning in EYFS and KS1. They all have a back story and allow us to hook into the content for that lesson. It is also equally important to link learning at EYFS and KS1 to real life children and families as much as possible. We have developed a key word learning strategy based on a worldview hand which is applied in the majority of lessons to aid quicker recall of correct terms. 

We have regular visits and visitors as part of our RE curriculum and have outdoor learning opportunities on our school grounds. RE lessons often include Philosophy for Children, circle time, critical thinking, learning from believers (email, remote interviews, visitors, film clips) and opportunities to unpack concepts through drama, art, music and computing. We are well resourced for religious artefacts and children are taught to handle them with respect. We are also interested in looking at religious views in the media. Our RE helps us to learn about diversity in the UK and around the world. We regularly use different aspects of technology and you can often see our lessons on 'X' which helps to give parents and the wider community an insight to Religious and Non-Religious Worldviews in our school.

As we are not a school with a religious designation, all RE teaching is delivered in a manner suitable for all to access, e.g “This is what most Christians believe” or “this is what some people think.” Some children may develop their own beliefs through RE lessons (whether this be through a particular faith, a sense of awe, or a decision to not believe) and all views are respected and developed accordingly. We also learn about different branches/denominations within a worldview. R.E. makes a distinctive contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development in that it is dealing specifically with the meaning, purpose and value of life. The importance of religious tolerance is also a key component of British Values and the Prevent Agenda. We ensure that learning involves a variety of approaches including discussions about their views about an art piece, philosophical debates, presentations, quizzes, written methods and pupil interviews. 

Impact

Through our sessions, children will be able to access their key words to help them to discuss and recall knowledge as well as understand religion in society. We expect children to be able to discuss essential knowledge as listed by CWAC and apply specific skills for Religious Education;

EYFS and KS1

• retelling religious stories
• recognising symbols
• sharing my opinions
• asking questions
• responding positively to differences and similarities

KS2

• making connections between words of wisdom
• can reflect on their own values and those of a believer
• can understand different ways of life and ways to express meaning
• can ask and have the skills to answer, ultimate and ethical questions from their viewpoint and that of a believer
• develop a local and global perspective of diversity
• discuss issues and support the development of community cohesion

We expect our children to recall and apply their experiences and learning in Religious and Non-Religious Worldviews to become;

• Respectful, tolerant and globally aware individuals
• Have a sense of belonging, community, ethical standards and a sense of wellbeing and happiness
• Avoid extremism and have the skills to recognise and challenge prejudice throughout their lives.

Our ongoing skills development include Critical Thinking, Religious Tolerance, Investigation, Interpretation, Reflection, Evaluation, Analysis, Synthesis, Application, Expression, Self Understanding, Communication, Problem Solving. Our developing attitudes in religion and world views include Self Esteem, Curiosity, Fairness, Respect, Empathy, Wonder, Open-mindedness, Working with others, Sense of Community.

Additional opportunities for RE include visits to local places of worship, Chester Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool Synagogue and St Paul's Cathedral. We take part in the Christmas and Easter Journeys with Frodsham Churches Together at Main Street Chapel.  We visit St Laurence's and are often involved with education events at Frodsham methodist. We work with Imran Kotwal from Muslim Learner Services and Jonathon from The Anne Frank Trust  annually as well as Harkirat Singh and Prayjoti and interview people over Twitter or Zoom. We take part in RE workshops with other schools and work with Cheshire Inter Faith Network. We often have teachers from other schools and universities who come to see our work in RE and how we do our lessons. 

Below you can find documents relating to the teaching of Religious and Non-Religious Worldviews at Frodsham Manor House. 

We follow the Cheshire West and Chester Agreed Syllabus. Some of the relevant documents can be found here. All other guidance is freely available. Click here.