Religious Education (R.E) 

Religious Education (RE) – Intent, Implementation, and Impact

Intent

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, Healthy Futures

At Norman Pannell Primary School, Religious Education (RE) enables pupils to develop a deep understanding of a range of religions and worldviews, fostering respect, curiosity, and reflective thinking. Our curriculum helps pupils:

• Understand major religions and non-religious worldviews, including their beliefs, practices, values, and historical contexts.
• Explore key concepts such as community, identity, belonging, celebration, and moral responsibility.
• Reflect on big questions about meaning, purpose, and human experience.
• Develop vocabulary and conceptual knowledge to express ideas clearly and confidently.
• Build a secure foundation in EYFS and KS1 that prepares pupils for the Opening Worlds programme in KS2.
• Develop critical thinking, enquiry, discussion, and reflective skills, enabling them to make connections across learning.

Our curriculum is coherently sequenced, ensuring progression in knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding from EYFS → KS1 → KS2:

• EYFS and KS1: Pupils develop foundational knowledge through the Liverpool RE Agreed Syllabus, introducing key stories, festivals, beliefs, practices, and non-religious worldviews.
• KS2: Pupils study RE through the Opening Worlds programme, a knowledge-rich, academically ambitious curriculum with a strong focus on vocabulary, reading, and conceptual understanding.

By the end of KS2, pupils will have a deep, connected understanding of religion and worldviews, making links between beliefs, practices, and values, and preparing them for Key Stage 3 and their future lives.

Implementation

RE is taught weekly across all classes, following curriculum expectations for each phase. Lessons build knowledge progressively and develop both understanding and enquiry skills.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

In EYFS, RE is delivered through Understanding the World and the Liverpool RE plans. Children:

• Listen to and discuss religious stories and celebrations.
• Explore similarities and differences between families, communities, and traditions.
• Develop early concepts of belonging, kindness, fairness, and community.
• Engage in role play, storytelling, discussion, and practical experiences.
• Build religious vocabulary and understanding through structured activities.

Key Stage 1 (Years 1–2)

RE in KS1 follows the Liverpool RE scheme, providing a broad introduction to major religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and non-religious worldviews. Teaching focuses on:

• Key stories, beliefs, symbols, and practices.
• Comparing themes across religions (community, kindness, celebration).
• Developing early enquiry skills through questions, discussion, and reflection.
• Explicit teaching of vocabulary, building a strong foundation for KS2.

Key Stage 2 - Opening Worlds Programme (Years 3 - 6)

In KS2, RE is taught through Opening Worlds, which is:

• Knowledge-rich, with carefully sequenced content building year on year.
• Focused on deep conceptual understanding of religions and worldviews.
• Strongly emphasising vocabulary acquisition and high-quality reading materials.
• Integrated with artefacts, historical context, images, narratives, and sacred texts.
• Taught using explicit instruction, retrieval practice, structured discussion, and enquiry-based learning.

Key features include:

• Systematic study of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, and non-religious worldviews.
• Revisiting key ideas and making connections across topics to strengthen retention.
• End-of-unit synoptic tasks, where pupils consolidate learning across the topic and apply knowledge to compare ideas and demonstrate understanding.
• Exploration of big questions about belief, meaning, identity, and purpose.

Teaching Approaches (EYFS – KS2)

Across all phases, teaching incorporates:

• Explicit subject-specific vocabulary instruction
• Retrieval practice to support long-term memory
• Clear explanations and modelling
• Discussion, enquiry, and reflection
• Use of artefacts, texts, images, videos, role play, and real-life examples
• Encouragement of respectful dialogue and active listening
• Linking RE with PSHE, literacy, history, and British Values to strengthen cultural and moral understanding

SEND and Inclusion

RE is taught inclusively to ensure all pupils can access the curriculum. Teachers support pupils with SEND or English as an additional language through:

• Scaffolded questioning and differentiated tasks
• Visual supports and simplified texts
• Sentence starters and vocabulary support
• Adapted discussion, practical, and role-play activities

These strategies ensure all pupils engage with key concepts and develop understanding of religions and worldviews.

Impact

The impact of our RE curriculum is seen in pupils who:

• Have a secure, connected understanding of major religions and worldviews.
• Use accurate religious vocabulary confidently.
• Show respect, curiosity, and empathy towards people of different beliefs and traditions.
• Can describe and explain beliefs, practices, and values, making connections across religions.
• Engage thoughtfully with questions of meaning, purpose, and identity.
• Demonstrate enquiry, discussion, and critical thinking skills in both written and verbal work.

Assessment

Assessment is used to monitor pupils’ knowledge, understanding, and progression:

• EYFS: Ongoing assessment within Understanding the World (Development Matters).
• KS1 & KS2: Termly assessment of knowledge and vocabulary taught.
• Retrieval tasks and quizzes, particularly within Opening Worlds.
• End-of-unit synoptic tasks, where pupils consolidate and apply learning across topics.
• Book scrutiny and work monitoring to evaluate progression and quality of learning.
• Pupil voice discussions to assess understanding, curiosity, and attitudes.
• Learning walks to ensure teaching aligns with curriculum expectations.

Pupils keeping up with the curriculum make at least expected progress. By the end of Year 6, they are well-prepared for Key Stage 3 Religious Education, with a strong foundation of knowledge, vocabulary, enquiry, and reflective thinking.