Religious Education 

Our Religious Education curriculum helps pupils explore a wide range of religious and non-religious worldviews. Through stories, traditions, and key concepts, children learn about beliefs, values, and practices from diverse cultures. Lessons encourage respect, curiosity, and reflection, enabling pupils to understand the role of religion and belief in communities and the wider world.

The Purpose of RE

High-quality RE will support pupils’ religious literacy. In the context of this syllabus, being religiously literate means that pupils will have the ability to hold balanced and well-informed conversations about religion and worldviews. Pupils will be able to make sense of religion and worldviews around them and begin to understand the complex world in which they live. RE is primarily about enabling pupils to become free thinking, critical participants of public discourse, who can make academically informed judgements about important matters of religion and belief which shape the global landscape.

(Norfolk Agreed Syllabus 2019)

The Norfolk Agreed Syllabus 2019 uses an enquiry-based multi-disciplinary approach, the disciplinary fields being theology, philosophy and human and social sciences.

Theology: thinking through believing.

It is about asking questions that believers would ask. It requires pupils to think like theologians, or to look at concepts through a theological lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers that arise from inside religions and worldviews. (As theologians, we will…)

Philosophy: thinking through thinking.

It is about asking questions that thinkers would ask. It requires pupils to think like philosophers, or to look at concepts through a philosophical lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised through considering the nature of knowledge, existence and morality. (As philosophers, we will…)

Human/Social Sciences: thinking through living.

It is about asking questions that people who study lived reality or phenomena would ask. It requires pupils to think like human and social scientists, or to look at concepts through a human/social science lens. Pupils will explore questions and answers raised in relation to the impact of religions and worldviews on people and their lives. (As social scientists, we will…)

Two strands of study from each discipline would be followed throughout the seven year groups, so that we follow a consistent Progression of Skills. Each year group will study one topic from each discipline, over a two year rolling programme. All the main world religions and non religious world views are covered in the plan. The syllabus recommends focusing on a “core question”, using the skills strands to suggest how to investigate that question. These have both been incorporated into the Curriculum Overview. Learning would be shown in a number of ways, such as through artwork, writing, performance or debate.