At Thwaites School, Religious Education and Worldviews helps pupils explore the beliefs, practices, stories and values that shape people’s lives. We want pupils to become thoughtful, curious and respectful learners who can discuss questions of belief, meaning, identity and morality with confidence and sensitivity.

Our curriculum follows the Cumbrian Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2023, supported by carefully selected and adapted Kapow Primary resources. It has been organised to meet the needs of our mixed-age classes and rolling curriculum. Religious Education and Worldviews is taught weekly throughout the year.

Nursery children develop their early understanding separately through the EYFS area of Understanding the World. They explore what is special to themselves and others, listen to stories, encounter different celebrations and begin to recognise similarities and differences. Where appropriate, their learning is linked to the curriculum being followed by Reception and Key Stage 1.

Curriculum Organisation

From Reception to Year 6, the curriculum is organised around six strands:

• Beliefs and Big Questions

• Sacred Texts and Stories

• Practices, Rituals and Ways of Life

• Community, Identity and Belonging

• Meanings, Values and Moral Choices

• Change, Diversity and Worldviews Over Time

These strands are revisited through different religions, non-religious worldviews and contexts. This allows pupils to return to important concepts at increasingly sophisticated levels and make connections between their current and previous learning.

The curriculum balances three important elements:

• substantive knowledge—knowledge about religions and non-religious worldviews;

• disciplinary knowledge—an understanding of how beliefs, practices, texts and sources can be explored, interpreted and discussed; and

• long-term understanding—the ability to remember learning and apply it when considering new ideas and contexts.

Carefully planned curriculum cycles ensure that pupils develop an age-appropriate understanding of a range of religious and non-religious worldviews. Pupils learn that considerable diversity exists both within and between traditions and that people may express and live out their beliefs in different ways.

Teaching and Learning

Lessons prioritise knowledge, discussion, questioning and reflection. Pupils encounter high-quality stories, sacred texts, artefacts, images and other sources and learn to consider their meaning and importance.

In Reception and Key Stage 1, pupils describe beliefs, stories and practices using appropriate vocabulary and begin to identify similarities and differences.

In Key Stage 2, pupils explore beliefs, texts and practices in greater depth. They compare different religious and non-religious worldviews, examine how beliefs influence people’s lives and consider different responses to questions about meaning, identity and morality.

Subject-specific vocabulary is explicitly taught, modelled and revisited so that pupils can communicate their ideas accurately and respectfully. Teachers use neutral language and ensure that pupils are never required to disclose or defend their own personal beliefs.

Pupils are encouraged to ask meaningful questions, listen carefully to different perspectives and support their explanations with relevant knowledge. The subject teaches pupils how to think carefully and critically about religion and worldviews, rather than telling them what to believe.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Where possible, pupils visit a variety of places of worship and encounter members of different religious and belief communities. These experiences help pupils connect classroom learning with lived experience and understand how beliefs and traditions are expressed in practice.

Visits, visitors, artefacts and first-hand experiences help pupils appreciate diversity within communities and engage respectfully with ways of life that may be different from their own.

Inclusion and Challenge

Our Religious Education and Worldviews curriculum is designed to be accessible to every pupil. Discussion, stories, images, artefacts, structured talk and practical activities enable pupils to participate meaningfully without relying heavily on extended written outcomes.

Adult support, visual resources, sentence stems, modelling, scaffolding and structured questions are provided according to pupils’ needs. Pupils can demonstrate understanding through discussion, comparison, explanation, reflection and creative responses.

Pupils who demonstrate secure understanding are challenged through open-ended questions, increasingly complex sources and opportunities to compare, interpret, evaluate and justify their ideas in greater depth.

Assessment

Assessment is purposeful and focusses on what pupils know, understand and can apply. It considers pupils’ knowledge of religions and worldviews alongside their ability to compare, interpret, reason and discuss ideas respectfully.

During lessons, teachers assess learning through observation, questioning, discussion and pupils’ responses to stories, sources, artefacts and other stimuli. This helps teachers identify misconceptions, adapt teaching and provide appropriate support or challenge.

At the end of each lesson, pupils use the school’s POG system to reflect upon their progress against the learning objective and success criteria:

• Pink – Developing: “I am starting to learn this, but I still need help.”

• Orange – Secure: “I can do this on my own most of the time.”

• Green – Advanced: “I can do this confidently and could help someone else.”

At the end of each unit, teachers complete a class assessment summary based on the knowledge and skills taught within that unit. Teachers also make termly judgements about pupils’ longer-term progress across the six curriculum strands. These judgements draw upon patterns observed across lessons, discussions, pupils’ work, their use of vocabulary and their ability to make connections between ideas.

Retrieval is embedded within lessons rather than assessed through separate tests. Pupils regularly revisit previously studied stories, beliefs, practices and vocabulary. They compare learning across different units and connect new ideas with what they already know, helping them develop a coherent and lasting understanding.

Curriculum Impact

By the end of Year 6, we aim for pupils to:

• demonstrate secure knowledge of a range of religious and non-religious worldviews;

• understand that diversity exists within and between different traditions;

• explain how beliefs and worldviews influence individuals and communities;

• ask thoughtful questions about belief, identity, meaning and morality;

• compare and interpret beliefs, practices, texts and sources;

• use accurate subject-specific vocabulary;

• listen respectfully and engage thoughtfully with different perspectives; and

• communicate reasoned ideas with confidence and sensitivity.

We want pupils to leave Thwaites School equipped with the knowledge, understanding and respectful attitudes needed to live well in a diverse society. They should be able to engage thoughtfully with different beliefs and worldviews while reflecting upon their own ideas and experiences.

Parental Right of Withdrawal

Parents and carers have the legal right to withdraw their child from all or part of Religious Education. We encourage any parent or carer considering withdrawal to contact the headteacher so that the curriculum and the practical arrangements can be discussed. A parent or carer is not required to provide a reason for requesting withdrawal.

To discuss withdrawal from Religious Education, please contact the school:

Telephone: 01229 772554
Email: admin@thwaites.cumbria.sch.uk