Mr Parker and Mrs Goodman lead Religious Education at Wolvey. 

The Little Children and Jesus

¹⁵ People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

What does RE look like at Wolvey CofE?

RE is a vital curriculum area at Wolvey that contributes to the development and preservation of the spiritual and moral ethos of our school. It is a vehicle that encourages and equips young minds to ask questions and seek truth, in all spheres of life. RE is taught weekly (60 minutes a week on RE in KS1 and 75 minutes per week in KS2) with a systematic and thematic approach through half-termly themes based upon the Warwickshire locally agreed syllabus and the Understanding Christianity syllabus. We believe that RE should be active, creative and fun therefore we offer lots of opportunities for children to explore faith through the arts and literature.  

3 types of knowledge in our curriculum 

These broad types of knowledge are ‘pillars of progression’ within RE. ‘Getting better’ at RE at our school comprises both of knowing more and remembering more of these pillars as they are set out within the RE curriculum:

• first, ‘substantive’ knowledge: knowledge about various religious and non-religious traditions

• second, ‘ways of knowing’: pupils learn ‘how to know’ about religion and non-religion

• third, ‘personal knowledge’: pupils build an awareness of their own presuppositions and values about the religious and non-religious traditions they study

Our high-quality RE may have the following features

• A consideration of the knowledge that pupils build through the RE curriculum, because accurate knowledge about religion and non-religion can be beneficial for achieving different purposes and aims for RE.

• High expectations about scholarship in the curriculum to guard against pupils’ misconceptions. What is taught and learned in RE is grounded in what is known about religion/non-religion from academic study (scholarship).

• Carefully selected and well-sequenced substantive content and concepts.

• ‘Ways of knowing’ are appropriately taught alongside the substantive content and are not isolated from the content and concepts that pupils learn.

• A consideration of when pupils should relate the content to their own personal knowledge (for example, prior assumptions).

1. Warwickshire and Coventry agreed syllabus for Religious Education

The Agreed Syllabus sets out what pupils should be taught in religious education (RE) from ages 3 to 19. All maintained schools have a statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum which includes RE. Maintained schools without a religious character are required to teach RE to all registered pupils in accordance with the Locally Agreed Syllabus. Academies and free schools are also required through the terms of their funding agreement to make provision for the teaching of RE. They can choose to use the locally agreed syllabus but are not required to do so. It is a legal requirement for the Local Authority to review the Agreed Syllabus every 5 years. The review is overseen by an Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC), which has a similar membership to the SACRE. The Syllabus for Warwickshire and Coventry schools was published in 2017. 

Understanding Christianity

Teaching & Learning Approach

By addressing key questions, Understanding Christianity encourages pupils to explore core Bible texts, examine the impact for Christians and consider possible implications. Each unit incorporates the three elements:

• Making sense of the text – Developing skills of reading and interpretation; understanding how Christians interpret, handle and use biblical texts; making sense of the meanings of texts for Christians
• Understanding the impact – Examining ways in which Christians respond to biblical texts and teachings, and how they put their beliefs into action in diverse ways within the Christian community and in the world
• Making connections – Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the texts and concepts studied, and discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Each unit begins with a ‘way in’ and then offers teaching and learning ideas for each element. The teacher chooses how to weave together the elements, from making sense of the text, through looking at the impact on the world of the Christian, and helping to make connections with the world of the pupil, in order to achieve the outcomes.

Pillars of Progression

• 3️⃣ There are three types of knowledge we adopt in our RE:

• Substantive knowledge: knowledge about religious and non-religious traditions

• Ways of knowing: knowledge of ‘how to know’ about religion and non-religion.

• Personal knowledge: a growing knowledge of how pupils’ own ideas and values relate with those which they learn about in a religious and non-religious context.