Intent: why do we teach what we teach?

We believe that the study of religion is a fundamental component of every pupil’s rigorous academic education. Given our particular school context where religion plays a central role in the majority of our pupils’ lives, it is our duty to encourage and celebrate the spiritual, moral, social and cultural capital of our pupils alongside ensuring our children are learning a robust body of knowledge about faith perspectives.

 

Our curriculum is designed to encourage our pupils to feel confident to articulate any of their own religious beliefs, enquire and understand religion and its role in modern society and eventually grapple with theological and ethical issues. We prioritise a focus on perspective and interpretation and we are proactive in teaching pupils to use tentative language when discussing and writing about both. This journey begins in EYFS, where from the age of 2, pupils are encouraged to talk about and communicate things of personal significance in their lives, beliefs and culture.  In Year 1, we teach our children to speak and write about religion in a classroom setting, and continues through to Year 10 where pupils comment and debate on whether war has a just cause in a religious context. Between these units, we largely focus on the three Abrahamic religions given their importance to both our community and the wider world with teaching about the other major world religions and their important celebrations and festivals in assemblies and through teaching of non-fiction texts.

Religion Curriculum Overview
EYFS: 2 year olds	EYFS: Nursery	EYFS: Reception	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6	HT	Year 9	Year 10
How do I learn? People, Culture & Communities 30 months	Who am I? Past & Present People, Culture & Communities 42 months	What makes my family unique? People, Culture & Communities 54 months 60 months 66 months	RS1: Identifying faith (What is special about my faith?)	RS2: Diwali: A festival of light (What is the festival of Diwali for?)	RS3: Religious Practices (What do religions teach about eating meat?)	RS4: Religions in Society (Is England a secular country?)	RS5: The Abrahamic Faiths (What are the Abrahamic Faiths?)	RS6: Angels in the Abrahamic Faiths (What are angels for?)	1	Theme C: The Existence of God (Does God exist?)	Theme D: Religion, Peace and Conflict (What is the religious response to war and violence?)
									2	Christian Beliefs (What are the main beliefs and teachings in Christianity?)	Theme E: Crime and Punishment (What is the religious response to crime and punishment?)
									3	Islamic Beliefs (What are the main beliefs and teachings in Islam?	Revision Unit on Theme C: Existence of God (Does God exist?)
									4	Christian Practices (What is the significance of different Christian practices?)	Revision Unit on Christian Beliefs and Practices
									5	Islamic Practices (What is the significance of key Islamic practices?)	Revision Unit on Islamic Beliefs and Practices
									6	Theme B: Religion and Life (What are the origins and value of creation and human life?)	GCSE Exam

Religious Studies is a significant part of the year 9 curriculum where all pupils start the GCSE course. At KSA all pupils take their RS GCSE at the end of year 10, it is important to us that all pupils study the GCSE course to hone their existing cultural capital, drive critical thinking as well as contributing to building revision skills which support them in their other academic subjects in year 11. Pupils study a variety of topics in depth with a focus on learning about Islamic and Christian beliefs and practices. This is combined with key philosophical and ethical debates such as the role of religion in the modern world and big questions surrounding the existence of God.

 

Pupils continue to develop their critical thinking skills throughout the RS curriculum, evaluating and analysing important ethical and philosophical questions. Pupils are taught to process information to create substantiated judgements and to write essays and convincing answers. RS at King Solomon Academy helps pupils to understand their own identity and experiences, and to understand their role within the world. Through the study of RS our pupils improve religious literacy and develop their empathy and understanding of a variety of faiths and worldviews, as well as teaching our children how to engage with and debate with theological and ethical issues.

 

Implementation: how do we teach what we teach?

Year group	Hours of teaching	Organisation of work
EYFS	Integrated into daily teaching and learning within the provision	Memorable moments are captured as pupil voice in observations and learning journals
1	1 hour (1 HT)	Exercise books
2	1 hour (1 HT)	Exercise books
3	1 hour (1 HT)	Exercise books
4	1 hour (1 HT)	Exercise books
5	1.5 hours (1 HT)	Exercise books
6	1.5 hours (1 HT)	Exercise books
9	Two hours	Exercise books
10	Three hours	Exercise books

In the Early Years, RS is woven through the entire curriculum which pupils frequently investigate through a range of experiences as part of our integrated model with a focus on identifying and respecting different attitudes, beliefs, customs and traditions.  This starts in nursery where pupils are encouraged to talk about events in their personal history and present lives including cultural and religious celebrations. In Reception, this is extended when pupils dive into the celebrations of Diwali, Christmas and Hanukkah as part of our unit “What makes my family unique?”  

From Year 1-Year 6, each unit has an enquiry question which is answered with a written outcome.  The subject-specialist teachers have intellectual preparation time together, a crucial touch point in identifying misconceptions and practising the delivery of religious concepts in preparation for teaching. A Knowledge Organiser is shared with the pupils in both their exercise and homework books, outlining what each theologian needs to know as an entry point to each aspect of the unit. This document sequences the unit into lessons, identifying the key knowledge to be taught each lesson. As the unit progresses, the children revise the previous week’s learning both in the Do Now and in their homework books.

In secondary, knowledge organisers are also used consistently in lessons for knowledge retrieval quizzes and do now questions. In class questioning follows Bloom’s Taxonomy so that teachers can check understanding before pupils are asked to explain or evaluate content. Secondary lessons end with written practice, often exam style questions designed to improve pupils’ clarity with written concepts and arguments.

To make RS accessible to pupils in all year groups, reading is always chunked and key words and concepts are drilled with the use of knowledge organisers for each topic. Within lessons, teachers teach the content on the KO greater depth, imparting knowledge and using texts, deliberate practice techniques and extended writing tasks, leaving a body of work in the children’s books which they can refer to in their independent outcomes.

Impact: how do we know what pupils have learn and how well they have learnt it? 

In alignment with assessment in the Early Years, practitioners observe the children in play, use skilful interactions to comment and question, supporting children to deepen and share their understanding.  Children show what they know by making comments and asking questions which are captured as ‘memorable moments’, usually in pupil voice, photographs or observations. These are collected in pupil’s learning journals to support practitioner’s judgements of how well pupils know and can articulate their knowledge.  

Throughout Year 1-Year 6, intentional monitoring is used to give live feedback to our children. Teaches use colour-coded highlighters to show pupils their successes and areas for growth. Data is collected in the moment and teachers will respond to what they see within lessons or across the unit, making changes as necessary. The knowledge and skills required to answer the enquiry question are also monitored with more detailed ‘stack’ marking of independent tasks throughout the unit. At the end of the unit, children are formally assessed in an independent written outcome. Successes and misconceptions from these outcomes are used formatively, which may inform revision recaps in the following unit or year group or the content of Do Now revision at the start of each unit. Formative assessment also comes in the form of post-unit quizzes.

In Secondary, pupil work is marked every six lessons. Checkpoints through the half term assess pupil’s ability to complete specific exam questions and practice various written skills. Teacher feedback then allows pupils to improve, before they complete a cumulative assessment towards the end of the half term. Following each assessment, teachers review key skills methodically leading to improved quality of written communication over time. In addition, weekly quizzes are used to ensure that pupils are consistently and independently revising content and this is visible to the teacher.

We are proud that our pupils show genuine curiosity in RS lessons and across the wider curriculum about faith, identity and the wider world. Our RS curriculum is built on our school values of aiming high, working together, being kind and leading the way as we all work towards ensuring that every pupil leaves our school confident in their understanding of their own faith perspective and how to relate to others in the world beyond our school and local community.