Religious Education

Religious Education is implemented through the Kapow Primary Religion and Worldviews scheme, which provides a progressive sequence of enquiry questions from the Early Years to Year 6. Each enquiry develops pupils' knowledge of religions and worldviews while also developing their ability to interpret, compare, question, evaluate and reflect.

Teaching follows Ascot Road's whole-school pedagogical framework of Revisit and Review, Teach, Practice and Apply, with checking for understanding embedded throughout. Teachers revisit relevant prior knowledge and vocabulary before introducing new concepts, beliefs or practices, enabling pupils to make meaningful connections between different units and worldviews.

Enquiry questions provide the structure for learning. Rather than simply receiving information about religious traditions, pupils investigate evidence, encounter different perspectives and progressively construct reasoned responses to meaningful questions. Teachers explicitly model how to discuss complex ideas respectfully and how to distinguish between personal opinion and evidence-informed conclusions.

Pupils encounter a broad range of sources and representations, including religious and non-religious texts, stories, artefacts, artwork, photographs, video material, maps, data and accounts of lived experience. These resources help pupils understand both what people believe and how beliefs and worldviews may be expressed in everyday life.

Teachers use precise language when discussing religion and worldviews. Pupils are taught to avoid generalisations such as assuming that all members of a religious community believe or practise in exactly the same way. Language such as some Christians, many Muslims or some people with a non-religious worldview is modelled where appropriate to reflect the diversity within traditions.

Discussion and dialogue are central to RE. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions, explain their thinking, listen to different perspectives and respond thoughtfully. Teachers establish a classroom culture where disagreement is acceptable but disrespect is not, allowing pupils to explore challenging ideas without fear of judgement.

Pupils progressively develop subject-specific vocabulary relating to 

beliefs, practices, texts, traditions, symbols and worldviews. Vocabulary is explicitly introduced, modelled and revisited so that pupils can communicate their understanding with increasing precision.

Opportunities to compare are carefully structured. Pupils are encouraged to identify similarities and differences without suggesting that religions or worldviews are interchangeable. They increasingly learn to recognise diversity both between different traditions and within individual religions and worldviews.

Practical and creative approaches are used where they deepen conceptual understanding. Across the Kapow curriculum, pupils may interpret artwork, examine objects, analyse data, create representations, debate ideas or explore religious spaces. For example, pupils explore places of worship in Year 2, consider symbolism through water and fire in Year 3 and investigate the significance of pilgrimage and sacred places in upper Key Stage 2.

Where appropriate, pupils' learning is enhanced through encounters with religious communities, visitors or visits to places of worship. Such experiences are carefully contextualised within curriculum learning and are used to deepen pupils' understanding of lived religion rather than being treated as isolated cultural experiences.

In the Early Years, the foundations of RE are developed primarily through Understanding the World, alongside Communication and Language and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Children encounter ideas about identity, community, celebration, places, the natural world, significant objects and stories through age-appropriate discussion, stories, images and experiences.

Kapow's EYFS sequence begins with What makes us special? and develops through questions relating to special times, places, the world, objects and stories. Children encounter celebrations including Diwali and Christmas, consider places of worship, explore caring for the world and learn that objects and stories can hold particular significance for individuals and communities.

Adult-led teaching introduces appropriate vocabulary and concepts explicitly, while play, storytelling and discussion allow children to make connections to their own experiences. Pupils learn to talk about what is important to themselves while listening respectfully when others share experiences that may be different. This provides a strong foundation for more formal enquiry in Key Stage 1.

Assessment is predominantly formative. Teachers use discussion, questioning, pupils' written and creative responses, retrieval and observation to identify what pupils know and understand and how effectively they can apply this knowledge when responding to increasingly complex questions.

Subject leadership supports high-quality implementation through curriculum monitoring, work scrutiny, pupil voice, learning walks and professional dialogue. Monitoring considers both the accuracy and breadth of pupils' substantive knowledge and their developing ability to think critically and sensitively about religion and worldviews.

The impact of our Religious Education curriculum is seen in pupils who develop a secure and increasingly nuanced understanding of religion and worldviews. Pupils can recall important knowledge about beliefs, practices, traditions, texts and communities and make meaningful connections between concepts encountered across different units.

Pupils recognise that religion and worldviews are complex and diverse. Rather than making broad generalisations, they understand that individuals within the same religion may interpret beliefs and practise their faith differently and that culture, history, geography and personal experience can influence how worldviews are expressed.

Pupils become increasingly confident in engaging with challenging questions about belief, morality, identity, meaning, suffering and the purpose of life. They can explain different perspectives and increasingly use evidence from texts, practices, lived experience and other sources to support their reasoning.

Pupils use appropriate religious and worldview vocabulary with increasing accuracy and can communicate their understanding respectfully in both spoken and written forms. They are able to compare different perspectives while recognising that similarity does not mean sameness and difference does not imply superiority.

Pupils demonstrate Respect and Kindness when listening and responding to the beliefs and experiences of others. They understand that disagreement can occur without disrespect and increasingly demonstrate the language and attitudes required for constructive dialogue.

Through RE, pupils develop Honesty in reflecting upon their own views. They understand that they are not expected to adopt particular religious or non-religious beliefs and are able to express uncertainty, change their minds or acknowledge where questions do not have simple answers.

Fairness and Responsibility are evident as pupils develop an understanding of freedom of religion or belief, equality and the responsibilities involved in participating in a diverse society. By Year 6, pupils consider contemporary evidence such as census data and digital maps when exploring the place of religion in society and reflect explicitly on freedom of religion or belief and its relationship with citizenship.

RE strengthens pupils' understanding of belonging by enabling them to appreciate how beliefs, values, traditions, communities and places can contribute to an individual's identity. Pupils also understand that a person can belong within a community without sharing the same beliefs as everybody else within it.

By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils possess a secure foundation for secondary Religious Education. They are able to engage with theological, philosophical and social questions, interpret evidence, consider multiple perspectives and communicate informed responses with sensitivity and confidence.

Curriculum impact is evaluated through pupils' work, pupil voice, classroom discussion, retrieval of previous knowledge and pupils' responses to enquiry questions. Monitoring considers whether pupils know more, remember more and can think more deeply about religion and worldviews as they progress through school.

At Ascot Road Primary School, Religious Education is inclusive by design. Every pupil is entitled to develop an understanding of religion and worldviews and participate meaningfully in discussions about identity, belief, culture and community. High expectations are maintained for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, with adaptations used to remove barriers to learning.

Teachers identify the essential knowledge and concepts within each enquiry and anticipate potential barriers to understanding. Adaptations may include visual prompts, photographs, artefacts, simplified layouts, carefully chunked texts, explicit modelling, structured questioning and repeated retrieval.

Abstract ideas such as belief, spirituality, morality, symbolism, interpretation and worldview can present particular challenges for some pupils. Teachers make these concepts more accessible through concrete examples, stories, objects, images and explicit comparison with familiar experiences while maintaining the intellectual ambition of the learning.

Subject-specific vocabulary may be pre-taught and regularly revisited. Pupils are given multiple opportunities to hear, say and use new terminology through discussion before being expected to apply it independently in written work.

Discussion is carefully structured to enable all pupils to contribute. Sentence stems, visual prompts, partner rehearsal or alternative communication methods may be used where appropriate. Pupils are able to demonstrate their understanding through a range of formats, including oral explanation, diagrams, creative responses and supported written work.

Teachers are sensitive to pupils who may interpret language literally or find understanding multiple perspectives challenging. Differences between statements of belief and statements of fact are made explicit, and teachers clearly model language such as some people believe… or according to this worldview….

RE may include concepts relating to death, suffering or other sensitive issues. Teachers carefully consider pupils' individual circumstances and additional needs when teaching these areas, providing appropriate preparation and support while ensuring pupils remain entitled to the intended curriculum content.

Adults are deployed carefully to facilitate participation without replacing pupils' own thinking or responses. Appropriate processing time and opportunities for rehearsal are provided so pupils can formulate and communicate their own ideas.

Pupils who demonstrate secure understanding are challenged through increasingly nuanced comparison, interpretation and evaluation rather than simply being given additional factual content. They may consider competing interpretations, identify limitations in sources or explore greater diversity within a particular worldview.

Our value of Fairness is reflected in ensuring that pupils receive the adaptations they need to access an ambitious shared curriculum. In turn, RE supports pupils' understanding that disability is one aspect of human diversity and that all individuals have the same right to dignity, respect and belonging.

Culture and diversity are fundamental to Religious Education at Ascot Road. Through the Kapow Religion and Worldviews curriculum, pupils encounter a wide range of religious and non-religious perspectives and develop an understanding of the diversity that exists both between and within communities.

Pupils encounter traditions and perspectives including Christianity, Islam, Hindu traditions, Judaism, Sikh traditions, Buddhism, the Bahá'í Faith and non-religious worldviews across the curriculum. Importantly, these are not presented as fixed or uniform systems of belief. Pupils learn that individuals may understand and practise a shared religion in different ways.

The Kapow curriculum deliberately develops this understanding as pupils mature. For example, Year 4 explores Sikh and Bahá'í beliefs when considering the origins and relationships between religions and examines the importance of scripture, commitment and sacred language. In Year 5, pupils investigate why Christianity does not always look the same across the world, while Year 6 explicitly considers how culture, tradition, migration, geography and interpretation influence the ways Abrahamic and Dharmic religions are practised.

This approach helps pupils avoid stereotypes and simplistic assumptions. Teachers emphasise lived experience and use appropriate language to distinguish between what a religion teaches and what individual believers may believe or practise.

Pupils develop Respect by recognising the importance that beliefs, traditions, sacred texts, places and practices can hold for other people. They develop Kindness through empathetic discussion and by considering experiences beyond their own.

Fairness is explored through questions of religious equality, freedom of belief and representation. The Year 5 enquiry Why do people have to stand up for what they believe in? explicitly introduces religious freedom through historical and contemporary examples, while the final Year 6 unit considers the importance of freedom of religion or belief within citizenship.

Pupils develop Honesty by learning to distinguish between evidence, interpretation and personal belief. They are encouraged to express their own ideas authentically while recognising that other people's beliefs are equally deserving of respectful consideration.

Responsibility is developed as pupils consider how beliefs influence actions towards other people and the wider world. From caring for others and the environment in Key Stage 1 to exploring morality, religious freedom, leadership and responses to suffering in Key Stage 2, pupils consider the impact values and beliefs can have on individual and collective choices.

The curriculum also enables pupils to understand the relationship between religion, culture and identity without assuming that these are interchangeable. Pupils learn that people may identify culturally with a religion without practising it in the same way as others, that individuals can have non-religious worldviews and that identity is often shaped by multiple influences.

RE therefore makes a significant contribution to pupils' preparation for life in modern Britain. Pupils develop the knowledge and language required to understand religious diversity, freedom of belief and the importance of respectful coexistence within a plural society.

Ultimately, RE reinforces our central principle of belonging. Pupils learn that people do not need to share the same religion, worldview, culture or beliefs in order to belong within the same community. By developing Respect, Honesty, Kindness, Responsibility and Fairness, we aim for pupils to leave Ascot Road able to engage confidently and compassionately with people whose experiences and perspectives may be different from their own.