Religious Education Curriculum Statement
At Mousehole school we follow the Cornwall Agreed syllabus 2020-25 to inform and support children’s understanding, compassion and tolerance of the views, opinions and religions of others and provide an opportunity for children to discuss and debate these.
Intent
The principal aim of religious education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living (Cornwall Agreed Syllabus 2020-2025).
At Mousehole School, the RE curriculum follows the Cornwall Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in ensuring that all pupils can make sense of a range of religious and non- religious beliefs so that they can understand the impact and significance of religious and non-religious beliefs and make connections between religious and non-religious beliefs, concepts practices and ideas studied.
Children will develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and the other principal religions represented in Great Britain, including Cornish traditions, festivals and Saints. Children will be encouraged to uphold British values, including respect and tolerance,
Implemenation
The teaching and learning approach has three interwoven core elements:
Making Sense of Beliefs
• identifying and making sense of core religious and non-religious beliefs and concepts; • understanding what these beliefs mean within their traditions;
• recognising how and why sources of authority (such as texts) are used, expressed and interpreted in different ways, and developing skills of interpretation.
Making Connections
• evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied;
• allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking; discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world
Understanding the Impact
• Examining how and why people put their beliefs into action in diverse ways, within their everyday lives, within their communities and in the wider world.
RE is largely taught through discrete RE week blocks, which provide children with the opportunity to immerse themselves into their RE learning. Over the course of study, teaching is designed to help learners revisit and remember the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. In delivering RE we work closely with the team at St Pol de Leon Church, Paul as part of the Penlee Church Cluster. Work is recorded in a variety of ways to best suit the learning and we try to make RE memorable and engaging for our pupils.
Impact
The children at Mousehole School enjoy learning about other religions and non-religious world views and are able to make links between their own lives and those of others in their community and in the wider world. They will have gained an understanding of what people believe and the difference that this makes to the way in which they live. Children are given opportunities to develop and reflect on their own spiritual awareness, sense of self and awareness of others. They will have developed respect for, and sensitivity to those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own and will develop an understanding as well as tolerance of other religions. Through meaningful discussions and reflection children should be able to better understand themselves and others and begin to understand the opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities of living in today’s rapidly changing, diverse world.