Religious Education (RE)
Religious Education at Sparrow Farm Primary makes a unique contribution to spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development and supports wider community cohesion.
We follow Hounslow’s agreed syllabus for RE, Widening Horizons. The aim of Religious Education in the London Borough of Hounslow is to help children and young people to develop their Knowledge of religion and worldviews and to develop the Understanding and Skills to engage with them seriously and respectfully.
Children develop knowledge and understanding of Christianity and other major world faiths including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism as well as the tradition of Humanism. We help children develop a sense of their own identity and foster a respect and sensitivity to those following different faiths.
Our belief is that, when using this model well, children’s critical thinking skills can be developed, their motivation to learn increased, and their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with, people and their worldviews (religious or otherwise) will be enhanced.
This approach takes very seriously the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning their own view of the world and their beliefs and morals. RE does not try to persuade, but rather to inform and develop the skills with which evaluation can take place.
At Sparrow Farm Primary School we follow our locally agreed syllabus using Jigsaw RE.
Jigsaw RE is an enquiry-based scheme of work, covering the 6 principal world faiths and Humanism in a progressive way from EYFS to Year 6. In the early years, the learning is closely matched to Birth to 5 matters, to contribute meaningfully to your child’s holistic development. Throughout all the enquiries, the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is carefully considered.
Each enquiry lasts for half a term and begins with a “big” question such as “What is the best way for a Christian/Jew/Muslim etc. to show commitment to God?” The children then start discussing the theme of the enquiry (in this case, commitment) from their own experience. What have they shown commitment to? Brownies? Cubs? Their sporting team? Playing an instrument?
Only when the children fully understand the concept they are considering, do they then move on to investigating what the people following the studied religion believe about it. They will spend approximately 3 lessons on this, learning in a variety of ways, so they can adapt their responses and come to a measured conclusion. In week 5 they will complete an activity which can assess their learning, by answering their “big” question. The assessment activities are child friendly and can be answered in a variety of ways, as long as the child can justify their view with the knowledge they have gained throughout the enquiry. This demonstrates the level of critical thinking that the children can apply – a valuable skill for them throughout the school curriculum.
The final week in every enquiry gives the children time to reflect on what they have learnt about the concept and apply to it their own lives, thus allowing them to form their own beliefs and identity. For example, "learning that Sikhs share their food with all who attend has taught me ……… about sharing that I would like to take forward with me". These lessons are often very creative and children have opportunities to make items to express themselves in ways other than just writing.
At Sparrow Farm Primary School we take a creative approach to learning RE and it is often taught making cross curricular links to English, art and music.
We use the timings and opportunities of major world faith festivals to support our teaching on worship and celebration including festivals such as Christmas, Diwali, Eid. Children learn about rites of passage, stories, writings, language and symbolism either in class, Assemblies or from visiting faith leaders or parent guests to class.
Useful website links to find out more about world religions
https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks1-religious-studies/zmtvwty
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks2-religious-studies/z6pbqp3