Religious Education

At Kanes Hill Primary School, our Religious Education curriculum, following the Living Differences scheme, encourages children to explore beliefs, values, and traditions from a range of religions and worldviews. Through engaging and respectful lessons, pupils develop understanding, empathy, and curiosity about the world around them, while reflecting on their own beliefs and experiences. RE lessons support children to ask questions, think critically, and celebrate diversity in our community and beyond.

Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Kanes Hill Primary school, we aim to deliver high quality Religious Education which is based on the Living Difference III, the agreed syllabus for Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.
Through RE we will engage, inspire, challenge and encourage children to ask questions about the world and to reflect on their own beliefs, values and experiences. We wish to develop their knowledge of the world’s faiths, and their understanding and awareness of the beliefs, values and traditions of other individuals, societies, communities and cultures including a non-religious way of looking at and existing in the world. We want the RE our children learn to be exciting, engaging, enquiring, challenging, reflective and enjoyable.

Implementation

We ensure that our RE covers the depth and breadth required by the Agreed Syllabus, Living Difference III. Our children study Christianity in every year group as well as the Hindu faith in Year R, 1 and 2. The Jewish faith in Year 3 and 4 and the Islamic faith in Year 5 and 6. A unit of RE is taught each half term as a blocked subject. RE teaching follows an enquiry-based cycle which leads into concepts. RE lessons often include Philosophy for Children, critical thinking, learning from believers (visitors, film clips) and opportunities to unpick concepts through drama and art. Our RE helps us to learn about diversity in the UK and around the world.

Our RE topics will include our curriculum principles:

Enrichment/Enjoyment
Each Year group will be learning from experts who will visit the school. They will also visit places of worship during the festival of Easter. We will continue our learning in the local and wider community such as visits to the local church.
Depth and Challenge
A depth of experience is gained through the conceptual enquiry model of learning: enquire, contextualise, evaluate, communicate and apply. The pupils are encouraged to use questioning and debate to learn about opinion and fact.
Quality Outcome which gives purpose to the learning
This may be through an art gallery, leaflet, poem, dramatization, description or explanation.
Personalisation
This may be giving children a choice of their outcome or how to present their work. It may be a particular line of enquiry a group may wish to research.
Relevant to our children and context
Kanes Hill has fantastic community links and with the use of community cohesion pupils will gain knowledge from visitor’s, PowerPoint, art and visits to places of worship local to them.
Purposeful
With the use of research and questioning the children will use real life audiences and experiences to gain an understanding of the diverse community that they live in.
Enquiry based/ igniting curiosity
Children will be given the opportunities to ask questions, discuss and debate searching questions.

Impact

At the end of Key stage 2 we want our children to:
Access vocabulary to help them discuss, recall knowledge and understand religion in society. Develop knowledge and understanding of some of the aspects of the Christian, Hindu and Muslim faiths.
Reflect on and relate their learning in RE to their own experiences.
Visit local places of worship and speak to visitors of different faiths.
Reflect on their own values and those of a believer, respecting their right to hold different beliefs from their own.
Understand different ways of life and other people’s ways to express meaning.
Discuss issues and to challenge prejudice.
Ask and have the skills to answer ultimate and ethical questions from their viewpoint and that of a believer.
Our ongoing skills development include religious tolerance, investigation, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, analysis, expression, self- understanding, communication and problem solving.

Curriculum Map/Concepts

re concepts overview.pdf

 

Progression of Skills

re progression of skills.pdf

 

Statement: Parental Right to Withdraw from Religious Education (RE) 

At Kanes Hill Primary School, we provide a broad, balanced, and inclusive curriculum, with Religious Education (RE) playing a vital role in fostering spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development and preparing students for life in a diverse world. 

Parental Rights

• Parents and carers have a legal right to withdraw their child from all or part of the Religious Education curriculum.
• This right is set out in education law (e.g., Education Act 1996, School Standards and Framework Act 1998).
• You do not need to provide a reason for your request, and the school must comply. 

 

School's Approach to RE

• Our RE curriculum aims to develop respect, understanding, and empathy for a range of faiths, beliefs, and worldviews.
• We teach about Christianity, other principal religions, and non-religious worldviews as part of a rich educational experience. 

 

Withdrawal Process

1. Contact: Please write to the Headteacher or complete the designated withdrawal form to formally request withdrawal.
2. Discussion: We encourage an initial discussion with the Headteacher to understand your concerns and to explain the RE syllabus and the school's approach.
3. Arrangements: Once withdrawal is confirmed, appropriate supervision will be arranged, often in a quiet area like the library, where the student will undertake silent work or reading (not other core curriculum subjects). 

 

Important Considerations

• Withdrawal from RE does not remove exposure to religious themes in other subjects like History, Citizenship, or Science, as these are part of a broad education.
• We review withdrawal requests annually with parents. 

 

We value your partnership and are committed to respecting your wishes while ensuring your child receives a comprehensive education.