RE at Hawthorn

 
 At Hawthorn, Religious Education is taught with a deep, mutual respect for each other’s religions, beliefs and cultures.

 

Foundation Stage

The key idea at Foundation Stage is ‘introducing’ RE at this young age. The children in Reception are introduced to the idea of ‘belonging’ and the importance of it as well as ‘Harvest Festivals’ and ‘Friends of Jesus’, where they begin to become familiar with key Bible stories.

 

In Key Stages One and Two, there are seven different units which are taught in both age groups but with different themes. These units are:

1. Faith Communities

2. Festivals and Celebrations

3. Sacred Writings

4. Religious Teachers

5. Beliefs and Practice

6. Talking about God

7. World Faiths

 
Key Stage One

In Key Stage One, children are very much ‘exploring’ and finding out about different religions within the units mentioned above, mainly Christianity and Judaism. They ‘explore’ expressions of belonging, festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Hannukah, well-known Bible characters and stories, ideas about God both in Judaism and Christianity and Jewish beliefs and practice from around the world. By drawing upon two different religions, Key Stage One children are naturally exposed to contrasting ideas about religion and can begin to discuss any similarities and differences between the two and compare against their own religion.

 
 
 

Key Stage Two

In Key Stage Two, children move on from ‘introducing’ and ‘exploring’ to ‘connecting’ where they are exposed to deeper religious ideas and are able to more confidently draw further comparisons between religions 'connecting' ideas from across the RE curriculum. Christianity is looked at in more detail and in greater depth. This includes studying the origins and composition of the Bible as well as its contexts and significance, and people's perspectives and impressions of Jesus. As well as this, a wide range of Hindu and Islamic aspects are taught including signs and symbols, God and worship in the home, beliefs and practice and the influence of faith on believers.