RE

 

“Learning about and respecting different religions.”

 

Intent

Our children come from a variety of faith communities. Through our RE curriculum, we want our children to feel that they belong to our Boldmere Community and be excited to learn more about the lives of the people around them, as well as their own family roots. We want them to begin to show compassion and respect for other people, animals and the environment, through learning to listen to each other. We want them to begin to have knowledge of and respect for their own and other faiths. We want to encourage our children to think for themselves, ask questions and begin to think about how the choices they make affect the world around them. We hope to open their eyes and help them to appreciate the beauty of our surrounding areas as well as to help them to feel thankful for the many opportunities that they are so fortunate to have. 

 

Implementation

At Boldmere we are fortunate to be multi-ethnic community and we value each other’s faiths and cultures. We give children opportunities to share their personal experiences of their family faith and celebrate difference. We actively encourage our children’s families to come into school to talk about their faiths and beliefs. We also welcome assemblies from Kids UK, and representatives from the Muslim and Christian communities. We feel this helps to bring our R.E. education alive to our young children and relevant to their own lives and experiences. At the beginning of the year we have an ‘All about Me’ display near the dining room where we encourage the children, with the support of their families, to share their own faiths and beliefs as well as bringing in photos of different celebrations and traditions that they enjoy as a family.

Throughout the year we learn about and celebrate the different traditions and festivals as they occur including Harvest Festival, Remembrance Day, Diwali, Christmas, Eid and Easter. Some of our displays around school reflect these different celebrations showing children’s works, photos of visitors as well as artefacts. Each classroom has a ‘think about display’ for the half term including children’s work, photos and artefacts to encourage the children to reflect on their learning.

 

 

What does R.E. look like at Boldmere Infant and Nursery School?

At Boldmere Nursery and Infant school, we deliver our Religious Education in line with the Birmingham agreed syllabus of 2022 by following the LCP scheme of work for R.E. We initially piloted the scheme of work with our Year 2 children and staff for a year. We were looking for a scheme that matched our school intent, which we felt LCP did.

The scheme provides clear progression in awareness and knowledge of faiths from Nursery to Year 2, allowing teachers to deliver structured lessons suitable for our young children in EYFS and KS1. The length of the session grows as our children develop, from short sessions of 15 minutes to a longer, more structured lesson. Teaching methods are stimulating and engaging including the use of role play, music, art, discussions, watching videos and looking at books and artefacts.

 

This is the long term overview showing what we teach each half term from our youngest Nursery children to our Y2 children.

 

Dispositions                                                                                     

In line with the Birmingham Agreed syllabus for Religious Education we include in our weekly lessons the 24 dispositions. These are very similar to our school values and encourage the children to show compassion and respect, remember their roots, think about the choices they make and appreciate the World around them.

 

Nursery                                                                                           

LCP Unit of work - Special objects, Spring 1   

Dispositions taught being curious, listening to others and remembering roots.

The Nursery staff brought a special object from home to share with the children. We talked about what our special object was and why it is special to us. Mrs Rawson showed the children her Nativity set “My Nativity set is special to me because I bought it in Manger Square, Bethlehem when I went on pilgrimage to Palestine with my Church. We display it at home every Christmas to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.”

The children were then encouraged to bring their special objects from home into Nursery and explain why they are special to them. One child brought a personalised Peppa pig book which was a present from her Grandparents. She loves reading books, Peppa pig and swimming which is why it was the perfect gift and so special to her.

All the teachers in the rest of the school also took part too and Mrs Rawson made a big display on our R.E. board by the dining room for everyone to see. We then went onto look at and learn about special religious objects such as an Islamic prayer mat, a Buddhist singing bowl and a Christian cross.

 

Reception

 LCP Unit—New Beginnings, Chinese New Year celebrations 

Dispositions taught Being Curious and remembering roots                         

Mr Meakin who showed the children lots of interesting objects from his trip to China. They learnt a lot about the country and a different way of life. They listened to music from China, then they performed their own dance with scarves and a dragon dance in small groups. They also tasted Chinese food eating rice, prawn crackers and noodles, it was delicious!

 

Year One

LCP Unit – Celebrations, Autumn 2                                         

Dispositions taught being curious, being thankful.

During their topic of celebrations, the Bee class were learning about Christingles and what each part of the Christingle represents. The children then made their own Christingles and even lit them! The classroom smelt amazing with all the oranges!!

 

Year Two

We learn about and celebrate Festivals throughout the year as they occur. During Diwali all our children took part in activities that were suitable for their age group. Year two listened to the story of Rama and Sita, learnt about how Sikhs and Hindus celebrate Diwali and made Rangoli patterns. Each class has a special journal to record R.E., P.S.H.E. and special events throughout the year. The photos were taken from the Frog class journal.

 

Boldmere Inclusion Base

We learn about and celebrate special days as they occur. The Giraffe class in our Inclusion Base were learning about Remembrance Sunday and made their own poppies. Disposition taught Remembering our roots.

 

Think about displays

Each classroom has a ‘think about’ display focussing on the half terms topic. This gives the children the opportunity to revisit a lesson and reflect on what they have been learning. This can include a list of the children’s ideas given during a discussion, children’s work, photos taken in school as well as brought in from home, labelled artefacts and other visual aids. The display will also include a laminated booklet of the 24 dispositions with a page for each of the key area’s creativity, compassion, choice, community, commitment and contemplation.

                                    Nursery                                                         Reception

  Year Two

 

Assemblies

We have weekly values assemblies as well as inviting members of our community to talk to the children about their faith and beliefs. We also attend one of our local churches to celebrate Harvest Festival and Christmas. At the beginning of each year we send a letter home for each year group so that parents know what their child will be learning about. We also actively encourage parents to come and share their beliefs and how they celebrate special days with their families. We feel that this is beneficial for our children as it helps to bring our Religious Education alive and make it more relevant to their own lives.

 

Useful websites

BBC Bitesize has lots of video clips suitable for our KS1 children about Christianity, Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.

Cbeebies Let's Celebrate is a series that we use in school to help our younger children find out about how children prepare for and celebrate different special days with their families.

Charlie and Blue films are five minutes long and are about a little girl called Charlie and her loveably inquisitive soft toy, Blue. Together, Charlie and Blue investigate an RE-inspired question and they meet people from different religions and beliefs who can help them find the answers they are looking for, enabling Key Stage 1 children to learn alongside them.

 

 

Curriculum