Procedural Knowledge
Procedural knowledge focuses on skills like interpreting texts and engaging in respectful dialogue.
Skills for Understanding and Interpreting: RE equips children with skills to understand, interpret, and evaluate texts, sources of wisdom, and other evidence.
Engaging in Dialogue: Children should learn to engage in respectful dialogue and debate, considering different viewpoints.
Articulating Personal Beliefs: RE encourages children to articulate their own beliefs, ideas, values, and experiences while respecting the rights of others to differ.
Developing Empathy and Respect: RE aims to foster empathy and respect for others, regardless of their religious or non-religious beliefs.
Key Primary Themes – The Nottinghamshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education organises teaching around several Key Primary Theme areas. These include:
- Theological concepts – beliefs, authority, expressions of belief and impact of faith
- Human/Social Sciences concepts – identity, diversity, belonging, meaning and purpose
- Philosophy concepts – truth, ethics, ultimate questions and knowledge
These are covered progressively through key stages:
EYFS/KS1: Focus on special people, places, times, and stories
LKS2: Expanding knowledge of religious practices and beliefs
UKS2: Deeper exploration of connections between beliefs and actions
Implementation
Teaching is designed to take account of our five key curriculum drivers with skills and knowledge taken from our progression documents to ensure age-appropriate content. Where appropriate, links are also made to ensure that children’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is enhanced through RE.
Our RE curriculum is designed to allow children time to think, discuss, practise, explore and embed. This allows time for teaching, practice and repetition – both in a year group and across key stages. Curriculum coverage is sequenced carefully from EYFS to Year 6 which allows Key Primary Themes, conceptual and procedural knowledge to be developed and revisited at a deeper level of learning. Progression is also ensured by increasingly complex teaching and learning of procedural knowledge and key vocabulary. Components of learning have been allocated to specific years to ensure that more complex thinking is planned for thus ensuring that children’s ability to make connections between the Key Primary Themes is expected. Our diverse intake means that in our school there is substantial diversity of culture, religion, language and national origins including those of mixed heritage, each of which may require specific provision to ensure equality of opportunity. We celebrate the diversity of our school community. In addition to on-going and integral references to the positives of respect for diversity, the school holds an annual International Day where this is formally celebrated.
Lessons will be planned and a knowledge organiser provided for pupils, which outlines the area to be taught, how new knowledge and skills fit in with prior learning, ‘sticky’ knowledge they need to understand and key vocabulary they need to learn. Lessons seek to introduce new knowledge and concepts in small, logical steps, in line with cognitive load theory. Children’s knowledge will be built up gradually, making links, wherever possible, to previous knowledge and other areas of learning. We seek to further children’s ability to commit new learning to long term memory by assessing their retention and revisiting key knowledge. Potential misconceptions will be addressed through carefully selected lesson content and effective feedback.
Nottinghamshire Agreed Syllabus
The Agreed Syllabus for RE in Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire 2021-2026
Using this Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, we will enable our pupils to discover more about religion as well as other world views as we assist them to apply their learning to a range of topics. Our pupils are encouraged to express ideas and insights into key questions which face all human beings as we travel through life. They will take part in lessons and could also receive visitors to school sharing a range of religious viewpoints and undertake their own visits to varied places of worship.
Through these experiences, they will gain insights and knowledge to help equip them as responsible citizens, ready to contribute positively to our society and the wider world.
The three-fold aims of RE in Nottingham City and the County will ensure that our pupils:
- Know and understand a range of religions and world views which will allow them to recognise the diversity which exists in our city and wider society.
- Can express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and the impact of religions and world views as they develop their own personal views on a range of issues
- Develop and use skills which will assist them to engage seriously with religions and world views
By following the Agreed Syllabus, RE will also contribute to a whole range of school priorities. Study of religious and world views will promote spiritual, cultural, social and moral development, and support pupils’ understanding of British Values, such as acceptance and respect for others who hold different world views.
Impact
The expected impact of following the R.E. Depth Map is that children will:
• Pupils’ knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs
• Development of a religious vocabulary
• Pupils’ ability to interpret religious symbolism in a variety of forms
• Pupils’ ability to reflect on questions of meaning, offering their own thoughtful and informed insights into religious and secular world-views
• Pupils will be able to explore ultimate questions of beliefs and values in relation to a range of contemporary issues in an ever-changing society
• Pupils are able to respect the right of others to have different views, values and ways of life
