RE

Curriculum Intent

At Meadlands we believe that Religious Education (RE) is an avenue to develop pupils into thoughtful individuals, who are able to demonstrate respect and an understanding of the people they will meet, work and live alongside. Our RE curriculum allows our pupils to demonstrate the knowledge and attitudes that will equip them to talk about RE in a sensitive and respectful way. 

 

Curriculum Implementation 

At Meadlands, we follow the Richmond SACRE (Standing Advisory Councils for RE) RE Curriculum. RE is taught in discrete blocks with each Key Stage 1 class learning about two main religions per year, and Key Stage 2 about three.  Over the course of their time at Meadlands, pupils will learn about Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Humanism and each unit will start with a question that is to be explored. 

 

As stated in the Richmond SACRE, schools within the Richmond upon Thames borough should ensure that more material is drawn from Christianity within each Key Stage than from other single religion of belief system’. Therefore every year group covers Christianity during the season of Advent and in preparation for Christmas.

 

The RE units taught are: 

Living the faith - Christianity 

• Year 1 – Why is Christmas important to Christians? 
• Year 2 – What does the Christmas story tell us about Jesus? 
• Year 3 – Why are presents given at Christmas and what might Jesus think?
• Year 4 – How can artists help us understand Christmas?
• Year 5 – Why is light an important sign at Christmas?
• Year 6 – What do the Gospels say about the Birth of Jesus and why is it good news? 

 

Living the faith – religious study 

• Year 1 – What is important for Muslim families? 
• Year 2 – Why do Jewish families celebrate Sabbath?
• Year 3 – What are the pillars of Islam?
• Year 4 – What does it mean to be Sikh?
• Year 5 – What does it mean to be Hindu?
• Year 6 – What does it mean to be a Humanist? 
•  

Religious buildings and places 

• Year 3 – How can a synagogue help use to understand the Jewish faith?
• Year 4 – How can a Mosque help us to understand the Muslim faith? 
• Year 5 – How can a Gurdwara help us to understand the Sikh faith?
• Year 6 – How can a Mandir help us to understand the Sikh faith?

 

At Meadlands we recognise the importance of learning about religions through trips. Therefore all pupils complete at least one trip (two in Key Stage 2) to a place of worship every year.  We also welcome people from different religions to come and share their beliefs and practices with the pupils. This is either done in assemblies on during whole class sessions. Alongside our discrete units above, RE is also threaded through English lessons, with all classes learning about a significant Christian and the moral teachings of religious stories. 

 

We welcome visitors from all cultural and religious backgrounds to share their stories with the children in assemblies. This year we held an International Week at school where children learnt about different cultures and religions and dressed up in different cultural dress, sharing our cultural diversity.

Examples of Work

Celebrating

Year 5 trip to St Andrews Church at Easter.

Year 3 trip to Ealing Gurdwara as part of their RE unit on Sikhism.

Sophie James (RE JLT Lead) took the lead in her own assembly about Christmas and how people around the world celebrate. Sophie took it upon herself to set a whole school homework so the children could create posters and information about how Christmas is celebrated in their families.