Religious Education (RE)
Hebrews 11:1
Developing children's understanding of Faith.
Organisation of RE
At Eltham Church of England School we aim to deliver Religious Education to reflect the Church of England Statement of Entitlement (2019), which should ‘enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10)’ and have an ‘engaging and challenging curriculum allowing children to explore core concepts and questions.’ We know that RE makes a powerful contribution to our pupils learning by providing them with the chance to explore the big ideas of religion and to think about what matters in their own lives. It also has a significant contribution to make to whole school improvement.
RE is a core subject in a Church of England school and is taught in line with the Statement of Entitlement and is taught for approximately 45 minutes in Reception, an hour in KS1 and an hour and 15 minutes in KS1 per week.
At Eltham Church of England school, we use the new Southwark Diocese Board of Education (SDBE) 2024 RE syllabus which we have adapted for our teaching of RE. Over the past academic year, we have been transitioning with this new curriculum and we are fully implementing it from Reception to Year 6 in September 2025. ‘Religious Education is not just an academic subject, but, lies at the very heart of the curriculum and has an important role in reflecting and conveying the distinctively Christian character of the school’ (SDBE website). The Diocese provides clear lesson questions to focus on which allow progression throughout the year groups by providing a ‘progressive, sequential, innovative, creative and engaging and relevant curriculum.’ SDBE RE policy (2024).
Click here for the Religious Education Curriculum overview
“RE helps me to understand my own religion better and learn about other people’s religion. It is important that we understand and respect everyone’s beliefs.”
Atticus, Year 5
RE in Nursery
Although Nursery is not compulsory, our school believes that the children should be made aware of some of the core beliefs of Christianity and other religions linked to our school, and as a result, RE is embedded into the Nursery topics and included in the continuous provision throughout the year.
One of the topics in Nursery is 'Festivals' and in this they focus on the festival of Diwali. During this learning, children re-enact the story of Rama and Sita and make Diya lamps. They also learn about Remembrance Sunday and make poppies. They use these to say prayers in order to think of those brave soldiers and their families. They also learn about the Nativity story and produce artwork, such as making mangers and using puppets to retell the story, as well as learn Christmas songs. In addition, through the EYFS curriculum, the six values of our school are taught through continuous provision and particularly in the PSED area of learning.
RE from reception to Year 6
To see a breakdown of what is covered in each year group, please refer to the RE curriculum overview.
The rest of the school follows the SDBE curriculum. The syllabus comprises units of study, exploring religious concepts, for the teaching of Christianity in Reception, KS1 and KS2 and the study of other principal world religions, specifically beginning from KS1. It clearly identifies opportunities for pupils to both learn about religion and learn from religion. The syllabus is sequenced through systematic units focused on one religion, and thematic units which build on learning by comparing religions, beliefs and practices. The teaching and learning approach in our RE curriculum has three disciplinary lenses or ‘ways of knowing.’ These are believing, thinking and living.
This is the theological study. It involves:
- 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.
This is the philosophical study. It involves:
- Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the beliefs and practices studied; allowing pupils to challenge ideas studied, and the ideas studied to challenge pupils’ thinking;
- Making links and connections between these and the pupils’ own lives.
This is the sociological study. It involves:
- 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 Lessons
At Eltham Church of England School, the RE syllabus is split into units; 6 in Reception and 8 in Years 1 to 6, which are covered throughout the school year. Each unit is led by a ‘BIG question’, which is used to focus a sequence of lessons. Each lesson then has an enquiry question or questions which together lead to an answer to the 'BIG question'. The enquiry questions are colour-coded according to the lens that the children are focussing on (see lenses above.) These lenses are discussed and displayed during the lesson so that the children understand the study skills they are developing.
In each year group, 5 units are about Christianity (at least 50% as stated by the Statement of Entitlement), including a Christmas and an Easter unit. Two units focus on other world faiths and one unit is a thematic unit which builds on learning by comparing the religions, beliefs and practices children have learnt about. Throughout a child’s time at Eltham Church of England school, the children will learn about the following other faiths in the world: Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism, as well as non-religious views. As part of our school vision ‘Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6v8), we believe it is vital that the children at Eltham C of E have a broad and deep understanding of the world and people’s beliefs and views in it to allow them to have a responsive role in society.
RE lessons at Eltham have lots of cross-curricular links to engage the children. The lessons in a unit incorporate art, drama, music, creative writing and discussion.
“I like RE because we do art, writing and acting.”
rOMAN, Year 1
Enrichment
Church Visits and Visits from our school’s connected Church
As a Church of England school, we are linked to Eltham Parish Church; St John the Baptist, and we are very fortunate to have a very passionate vicar, Reverend Caroline, who supports us with our learning of the Christian faith. We often visit the Church to link with our RE lessons and Reverend Caroline comes into lessons too. Recently, in Year 1, the children visited the Church to support their learning about Baptism and Year 5 visited the Church to learn about Holy Communion. Reverend Caroline visited Year 2's RE lesson in school to support their learning about Jesus, Light of the World and helped the children to make a Christingle.
Trips
We believe it is vital for children to see, hear and experience what they are learning about in RE and therefore, as well as trips to church, during our 'other religions' units, we visit other places of worship, including Hindu temples and synagogues, to support our learning and have people from other faiths in such as a Buddhism workshop to support our learning.
“I enjoy RE because it allows me to reflect on my life.”Phoebe, Year 4