Religious Education Curriculum

In our school, we follow the Kent Agreed Syllabus 2022 for RE. The scheme we follow to deliver this is 'Understanding Christianity' as well as the associated World Faith units provided by the Diocese and RE Today (who wrote the Understanding Christianity curriculum).  https://www.understandingchristianity.org.uk/

Details of the different units and which year groups do them at any particular time are below.

The law states that all pupils must be taught Religious Education and that there should be an act of collective worship each day in schools. This law applies to all schools whether an academy or state maintained. Sufficient dedicated curriculum time, meeting explicitly RE objectives, however organised, should be committed to the delivery of RE. This should aim to be close to 10% but must be no less than 5% in key stages 1 and 2. The time for collective worship is separate from and in addition to this. 

In response to the additional units in the Revised Kent Agreed Syllabus (2022), we are transitioning between the above Long Term Plan to the below Long Term Plan. Year 5's curriculum for 2022-23 is as below Long Term Plan; Year 6's curriculum is as the above Long Term Plan. This has enabled us to add in the units you see below, which we feel will enhance our children's education in this vital area. Other small changes include the unit that Year 3 explore about Christmas.  

The Big Frieze

The Big Frieze is designed to give teachers the opportunity to make pupils aware of the wider context of each concept, unit and text studied in the understanding Christianity materials. Reminding pupils regularly of where a particular text occurs within the 'big story', by pointing it out on the Frieze, helps to build up a coherent understanding of the core concepts and relationship between them.

Teaching & Learning Approach

By addressing key questions, Understanding Christianity encourages pupils to explore core Bible texts, examine the impact for Christians and consider possible implications. Each unit incorporates the three elements:

• Making sense of the text – Developing skills of reading and interpretation; understanding how Christians interpret, handle and use biblical texts; making sense of the meanings of texts for Christians
• Understanding the impact – Examining ways in which Christians respond to biblical texts and teachings, and how they put their beliefs into action in diverse ways within the Christian community and in the world
• Making connections – Evaluating, reflecting on and connecting the texts and concepts studied, and discerning possible connections between these and pupils’ own lives and ways of understanding the world.

Each unit begins with a ‘way in’ and then offers teaching and learning ideas for each element. The teacher chooses how to weave together the elements, from making sense of the text, through looking at the impact on the world of the Christian, and helping to make connections with the world of the pupil, in order to achieve the outcomes.

This model shows that the Understanding Christianity approach is not just getting pupils to learn what Christians think. Instead, it is about developing skills to help them ‘think theologically’ alongside learning lots of knowledge about the Bible, Christian belief and practice. It also shows that these three elements do not represent rigid, distinct steps, but that pupils can ‘make connections’ whilst ‘making sense of the text’, for example.

© Understanding Christianity 2019